Guernsey County, Ohio - Topography and Geology Natural Features, 1911

Topography and Geology Natural Features

Guernsey county is bounded on the north by Tuscarawas and Harrison counties, on the east by Belmont county, on the south by Noble and on the west by Muskingum and Coshocton counties. Its soil is derived chiefly from the underlying rocks, which are mostly shales or sandstone. Except on the eastern borders, where the limestone at the base of the upper coal measure is reached, this applies where the soil is loose and thin. In some places it affords barely enough hold for the growth of grasses on the steep hillsides. A very small portion of the lands in the count}' were uncultivated later than 1880. It has every facility for a good dairy section, and to this many have, of late years, turned their attention with much profit. Its many springs and cooling streams make it an ideal country for this branch of farm industry. Sheep also do well and long years since the county ranked third and fourth of all the counties in Ohio in the production of sheep and wool.

The county, generally speaking, is very hilly and uneven in its topograph)-. It has been rightly termed "up hill and down hill" in its make-up. The highest ground is in the northwest and southwest portions. Four miles out of this county - over in Muskingum county - west from Spencer township, Guernsey county, is situated High hill, the highest isolated point in Ohio, though in Logan county the general altitude is greater. There is a romantic appearance to the general topography here. Strange to say, there are no valleys but those shut in and surrounded by other hills and valleys. There are quiet dells, retiring far between the swelling hills, and this makes the whole scene one of beauty and charm to the passer-by. The slopes afford good pasture, and in many instances the hillsides are covered with fine vineyards. The best mines in the count}- are located in the southern part. The southwestern section affords an excellent farming country, and many years ago this was noted for its wealth of livestock and prosperous farmers.

The drainage of the county is by the valley of Wills creek, a branch of the Muskingum river. . The headwaters of Wills creek include the wellknown streams or creeks, Leathenvood, Crooked creek, Salt fork, Bushy creek, and Sugar Tree fork, Leathenvood being the larger of these tributaries. Wills creek flows from its headwaters in Noble county, through the entire length of Guernsey, emptying into the Muskingum near the corners of Muskingum and Coshocton counties. All other streams in this section of Ohio How toward the south, but Wills creek flows north - away from the Ohio. It is a sluggish stream, following a tortuous course, north and south, through the western part of the county, with scarcely a foot fall per mile - hence its sluggishness. Its numerous tributaries form a complete network throughout the entire county. The soil through Which Wills creek flows is yellowish, hence the yellow appearance of this stream everywhere it meanders.

The county abounds in a good grade of both lime and sandstone and valuable clays; it also has an abundance of excellent timber, though much of the original forests have been long ago cut and sawed, leaving, however, a good supply for the present and oncoming generations. Beech, poplar, sycamore, oak, chestnut, maple, elm and ash are among the valuable varieties of timber growing.

Coal, which is mentioned in the Mining chapter, underlies almost every portion of the county and has come to be the most paying branch of Guernsey county's industries. Salt can be had by boring wells, which was done at a very early date in the history of the county.

Nature, everywhere within the confines of this county, smiles on man and yields up her treasures of soil and mineral wealth. The landscape certainly is one "ever a feast to the eye." and is admired by resident and stranger alike. Wlien the spring buds put forth, there is a sweetness in the atmosphere one seldom finds elsewhere. When autumn puts on her robes of beauty and silently glides winterward, no finer hues and brilliant commingling of forest leaves can be seen on the continent. While there are many countries with a deeper, richer soil, and where the raising of crops can lie carried on with less work and more profit, there are few better countries for the general resources that go toward making man happy and contented with what nature has given him.

The following interesting items concerning the streams of this county and their names are from the pen of Hon. William M. Farrar: The streams of Guernsey county come somewhat curiously by their names, as Leatherwood, from a bush having a tough, leathery bark used by the pioneers for many useful purposes; Yoker. from the yoker brush that grows along its banks; Wills creek, from Wills river, Maryland; Crooked creek, from its winding course; Little and Big Skull forks, from the fact that in early times the Indians, having made one of their raids into the white settlements east of the Ohio river, were returning" with their prisoners, among whom were a mother and infant child; being pursued, they first killed the infant and left the body to he devoured by the wolves, who left no remains hut the little skull; farther on the mother was killed, and in like manner devoured by the wolves, leaving only the skull. These skulls were found by the pursuing whites on the hanks of the streams which thus received their respective names. Another stream is named Indian Camp, from one of their camping grounds.

The settlement of the county was curious, in that settlers from so many different districts met here. The Virginians and Guernseymen met at Wills creek; the Yankees, from Massachusetts, and western Pennsylvanians, in the southwest; Quakers, from North Carolina and Chester county, Pennsylvania, in the southeast; the Irish, in the northern and western townships. A settlement from Xew Jersey extends into two townships, while there are families, descendants of the Hessians, in the southern part of the county, that came in through Virginia and Maryland settlements. The youngest daughter of General Stark, of the Revolution, died in this county, aged ninety-nine years.

The man who wields the second oar in the painting of "Perry's Victory." in the rotunda of the Ohio State House, was a Guernsey county man known as "Fighting Bill" Reed. He was of Virginia or Pennsylvania stock, who learned the hlacksmith trade of William McCracken, of Cambridge.

General Broadhead's trail in his Coshocton campaign in 1781 against the Indians is distinctly marked through the county. There were no Indian villages in this region, it being the hunting ground of parties that hunted and fished along the principal streams.

In 1798 "Zane's Trace" w^as cut through the county. When Zane's party arrived at Wills creek crossing they found the government surveyors busy surveying the United States military lands. They had a camp on its banks. At this time the only dwelling between Wheeling and Lancaster was at Zanesville. The Zanes were from the south branch of the Potomac, near Wills river, Maryland, and hence gave the name Wills creek to the stream. So far as known. Ebenezer Zane's party consisted of himself, his brother, Jonathan Zane, John Mclntire, Joseph Worley, Levi Williams, and an Indian guide named Tomepomehala.

Wills creek is a sluggish stream with a clay bottom, and, choked up as it was at that day with driftwood and rubbish, was a difficult crossing, and the Zanes, in compliance with the requirements of the act to establish and maintain ferries at the principal crossings, probably induced a man by the name of Graham to establish one there. It was the first stream west of Wheeling on the "Trace" over which they placed a ferry. Who this first ferryman was or where from is not known. He remained about two years, and was succeeded by George Beymer, from Somerset, Pennsylvania, a brother-in-law of John Mclntire, of Zane's party. Mclntire was a brother-inlaw of Ebenezer Zane. Both of these persons kept a house of entertainment and a ferry for travelers on their way to Kentucky and other parts of the West. Mr. Beymer, in April, 1803. gave up his tavern to John Beatty, who moved in from Loudoun county, Virginia. Beatty's family consisted of eleven persons. Among these was Wyatt Hutchinson, who later kept a tavern in the town. The Indians then hunted in this vicinity, and often encamped on the creek. In June, 1806, Cambridge was laid out. and on the day the lots were first offered for sale, several families from the British isle of Guernsey, near the coast of France, stopped here and purchased lands. These were followed by other families, amounting in all to some fifteen or twenty, from the same island, all of whom, settling in the county, gave origin to its present name. Among the heads of these families were William Ogier, Thomas Naftel, Thomas Lanfisty, James Bichard, Charles and John Marquand, John Robbins, Daniel Ferbrache, Peter, Thomas and John Sarchet and Daniel Hubert.

Origin Of Some Geographical Names

(From Col. C. P. B. Sarchet's Writings.) There is a significance about names both historical and otherwise. We know that Millwood township was first settled by Quakers, and that your beautiful city was first called Millwood. The name now, Quaker City, is appropriate, but because the W'ebsters built a mill on Leatherwood. didn't give it the name of Millwood. The reason for the name is farther back in history. Who knows? Coming down to Salesville, we know that the Brills and Williams were first settlers there, and that Brillsburg and Williamstown would have been appropriate names, but the name is farther back. Who knows? There have been some stories written about the "Leatherwood God" Dylks. We wrote one of these. We placed him as entering unseen into the old loo "Temple" north of Salesville. Another writer says he made his ap- some historical reminiscences. lie said that the contractor who built the old stone church, tor the Reformed Associate Presbyterian church, in which Dr. Samuel Lindsey ministered so long, placed a jug' of whisky, and that when tlie church was torn down, the workmen found the jug and the whisky in a high state of preservation. "They drank the whisky, hut 1 don't know what became of the jug." Now it would not do to say Presbyterianism about Fairview had for its cornerstone a jug" of whisk}', but it was put there for some reason by the contractor. So it is sometimes with history. A part is given and the other is lost.

Leatherwood creek was named from a peculiar bush that grew along its hanks that was as pliable as leather, and was used as withes by the early settlers, Beaver creek, because of the beavers and beayer dams along- it. Seneca creek, from the oil that gathered on the salt water at the old Satterthwaite salt works (which was gathered by spreading clothes on the water and then wringing out the oil, which was the same as the oil of Seneca Lake, New York. This oil was used for medicinal purposes. In our boyhood we took some dropped on loaf sugar, but would have preferred to mix the dose ourself). Salt Fork creek, from the salt lick found at the covered bridge on the National road, where the old Moore salt works were located. Buffalo creek, from the many evidences of buffalo trails and stamps found near them. A legend is that the Indians had captured a woman and child, and on being pursued, had first killed the child, and later the mother. The child's skull was found near Little Skull fork and the mother's near Big Skull fork.