Hamilton County, Ohio - Description, 1881

Man, through all ages of revolving time, Unchanging man, in every varying clime, Deems his own land of every land the pride, Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside ; His home the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest. JAMEs Montcomery, ''My Country."

HamILTon, the second county erected in the territory now covered by the State of Ohio, but, almost ever since, the first in the State in wealth, population, and general importance, is the southwesternmost subdivision of the Commonwealth. It is bounded on the south by the river Ohio, next beyond which are the counties of Campbel], Kenton, and Boone, in Kentucky; on the west by Dearborn county, Indiana, and at the southwestern eorner by the Great Miami river; on the north by Butler and Warren counties, Ohio, formed from its own territory in 1808; on the east by Clermont county and the Little Miami river, beyond which, from the northeastern corner of the county, runs a narrow strip of Warren county. Upon no side of its territory is the boundary a direct line throughout. The tortuous windings of rivers supply great curves on the eastern and southern boundaries, and also break up the western line as it nears the southern extremity; and the northern line is considerably zigzagged by the irregularity of the early surveys in the Symmes (or Miami) Purchase.

The area of Hamilton, once so great as to include about one-eighth of the present territory of Ohio, is now among the smaller county areas of the State. It includes but about three hundred and ninety square miles, or two hundred and forty-nine thousand acres. Its surface was probably part of a vast plain many thousands of years ago, but has become exceedingly diversified and broken by the long wash of streams and by the changes of the geologic ages.

It is a remarkably well-watered and fertile country. The underlying rocks of the Miami country are calcareous, and the drift-gravels usually composed largely of limestone. From both these sources fertilizing elements are imparted to the soil.

The valley of the Ohio is about five hundred feet below the general level of the county; while the valleys of the Great and Little Miamis, of the Dry fork of Whitewater, of Mill, Duck, and Deer, Taylor's and Blue Rock creeks, and many small streams corrugate further the surface of the country.

The characteristics of some of these streams were noticed by travellers ata very early day. Captain Thomas Hutchins, of His Brittanic Majesty's Sixtieth regiment of fost,-afterwards geographer of the United States, during his service with the British armies in this country in the last century, made many explorations in the western wilderness between the years 1764 and 1775, the results of which are embodied in a valuable Topographical Description published in London in 1778. It contains, probably, the first printed notices of the Miami river extant. He says:

Little Mineami river is too small to navigate with batteaux. It has much fine land and several salt springs; its high banks and gentle current prevent its much overflowing the surrounding lands in freshets.

Great Mineami, Afferemet, or Rocky river has a very strong channel; a swift stream, but no falls. It has several large branches, passable with boats a great way; one extending westward towards the Wabash river, and then towards a branch of the M/zzeamz river (which runs into Lake Erie), to which there is a portage, and a third has a portage to the west branch of Sandusky, besides Mad creek, where the French formerly established themselves. Rising ground here and there a little stoney, which begins in the northern part of the Peninsula, between Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, and extend across the Little Mineami river below the Forks, and southwardly along the Rocky river to Ohio.

A part of Captain Hutchins' description would hardly be approved nowadays. However industrious he was in observation, he would have necessarily to rely much upon hearsay; and no little knowledge that he seemed to have appears absolutely incorrect, or vague and indefinite, when confronted with the facts.

The Great Miami is about three hundred yards wide at its mouth, is arapid stream, without cataracts, with several large branches navigable for batteaux a Jong way up, the principal of which intersects with

This region forms one of the richest, as well as the most beautiful, sections of the State, an extension, indeed of the far-famed "blue grass region" of Kentucky.* The system of agriculture in this valley is esteemed the best in the State, except that of the Western Reserve. By underdraining and other permancnt soil-improvements and ameliorations important changes have been effected. It is the most famous tobacco region of the State, and in it more than forty per cent. of all the tobacco raised in Ohio is produced. 'The very richest bottom lands are selected for this crop, and the average yield for five years is ascertained to be eight hundred and sixty-six and onehalf pounds per acre. In the early day comparatively little wheat was grown in the valley, but within the last quarter of a century it has sown a greater breadth, and harvested a larger quantity than any similar area in the State. A comparison of the Miami valley with other parts of Ohio, made a few years ago, showed that fifty per cent. wider breadth of soil was sown to wheat in this valley than in any other part of the commonwealth. The corn crop was also very large, averaging thirty-eight and one-fourth bushels per inhabitant, against thirtyseven and one-half bushels per inhabitant for the general average of the State. Says the report cited below:

The farms throughout the valley are, as a rule, in good order; the surroundings in neatness and good taste more nearly resemble the Western Reserve than does any other valley in the State. Many of the inhabitants are Pennsylvanians and Marylanders, who have brought with them their ideas of good shelter and care of domestic animals; hence, throughout the valley are found well-constructed and goodsized, comfortable barns and other outbuildings. The interiors of farm-houses, especially the more recent ones, are well arranged for convenience and comfort, and many of them are even luxuriously furnished. +

How greatly and essentially the character of the county is changing, however, is shown by the following extract from the report of the secretary of the Hamilton County Agricultural society to the State Board of Agriculture, published in its annual report for 1871. He says:

Our county is no longer a farming community. Our farms are now occupied as dairies, rented by gardners, used as pasture or meadow, and on the railroads and leading thoroughfares are being subdivided and improved as country homes by the business men of Cincinnati.

Other crops are produced in great abundance and variety from the soil of Hamilton county; the fertile valleys near Cincinnati, especially the broad valley of Millcreek, which has a peculiarly favorable location, are in great request for market gardening. The lands here, and indeed generally throughout the county, are exceedingly valuable; and large sums are invested in and large fortunes realized by the pursuits of agriculture in this region,

The Mill Creek valley just mentioned, which constitutes one of the most prominent and important physical features of the county, begins near Hamilton, in Butler county, not far from the valley of the Great Miami. Indeed, it is said that in wet seasons the water is discharged trom a large pond near Hamilton at the same time through Pleasant run into the Great Miami and by Mill creek into the Ohio river. This creek becomes a considerable stream as it nears Cincinnati; and traversing, as manufactories and other establishments along its borders, an important element in the topography of the city and county. Other streams, except the Miami and Ohio rivers, are comparatively insignificant, although some of them, in the course of the ages, have come to occupy broad and deep valleys.

North of the range of hills adjoining, or rather now mostly in the city, in the country beyond Avondale and the Walnut Hills, is a spacious basin or amphitheatre of about twenty-five square miles, in which a splendid city inight advantageously be located, but to and through which the city of Cincinnati will undoubtedly one day extend. It is traversed by the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, and the Montgomery and other turnpike roads. The soil in this and the northwest portions of the county is for the most part friable clay, resting on limestone, which gives them an excellent character as grass-growing regions, from which much of the hay to Cincinnati is supplied.

Permanent springs are not very numerous in the county, but well water of excellent quality is in general obtained without difficulty. Ponds and-morasses were formerly frequent, especially in the northern part of the county, but are less known now.

The lands are entiely too dear to be devoted to sheep growing fo wool; hence comparatively few fine-wooled sheep are in the valley, the bulktof. the sheep being ''native'' and mutton breeds, As early as 1816 attention was being directed to the improvement in the horse stock of the valley, and from that time until the present that interest has been fully maintained. Those who are familiar with the strains of thoroughbreds will find that many of the famous horses of the west either were bred in this valley or else traced back to stock in this region for its ancestry. Less attention is given to cattle in this valley than other-agricultura! operations indicate, or than the wealth and fertility of the valley warrant. But the lesser interest in cattle is fully compensated by the greater interest in horses and in swine, This latter species of domestic animals is one of the ''leading agricultural pursuits" of the region. The justly famous ''Magie" (pronounced Mag-gee) breed of hogs is claimed to have been originated in this valley. Early maturity and large weights are the peculiar commendatory qualities of this breed, it being no unfrequent occurrence that a head of fifteen or twenty are slaughtered averaging near about six hundred pounds net. ¢

The average throughout the State is eight head of swine for every one hundred acres of area. In the Miami valley the average is over thirteen head, or sixty-three per cent. more than the general average; or, the State average is seventy-seven head for every one hundred inhabitants, and in this valley there are, in round numbers, seventy-nine head to the one hundred inhabitants. When it is remembered that more than one-fourth of the population of the State resides in this valley, it will be seen at once that one-fourth of all the swine in the State are grown here. Notwithstanding the Scioto valley has fifty-eight head of swine more to the one hundred inhabitants, it has less to the hundred acres than the Miami.

The climate of this part of the Ohio valley is mild and genial. The average temperature of the year is about 54° Fahrenheit, above zero, against 52° at Marietta, also in the Ohio valley, 50° on the south shore of Lake Erie, and 49° to 48° in the highlands, of the interior. In the early day the temperature was even milder, Dr. Drake, in his Notices concerning Cincinnati, published in 1810, says:

"The latter [the Ohio river, which he was coniparing with the Delaware at Philadelphia] at this place is but seldom blocked up with the ice which it floats, and was never known to freeze over." In his Picture of Cincinnati, published five years later, he notes the average temperature of 1808 as 56.4°; that of 1811 as 56.62°, and the average for the eight years, 1806-13, as 54.25°, which, he says, "may be regarded as an accurate exponent of the temperature of Cincinnati." One hundred degrees, from below zero to above, was the mean temperature of those years. During nine years' observation the thermometer at Cincinnati was below zero but twice in a winter. The mean summer heat for those years was but seventy-four, and the thermometer stood at ninety degrees or above for an average of but fourteen days a summer. In those times, according to Dr. Drake's observation of six years, there was an average per year of one hundred and seventy-six fair, one hundred and five cloudy, and eighty-four variable days. The annual fall of rain and snow amounted to thirty-six inches, while now it is forty-seven and forty-three onehundredths inches at Cincinnati and along the Ohio vatley, against thirty-six in the northern part of the State. Said Dr. Drake, in his publication of 1815:

This country has never been visited by a violent storm, either from the northeast or southeast, nor do the clouds from any eastern point often exhibit many electric phenomena. But from every direction on the opposite sides of the meridian they come charged with lightning and driven by impetuous winds. Of these thunder-gusts the northwest is by

For eighty-three years ending with the last day of 1879, during which observations had been taken at Cincinnati, the average temperature of the year was 57° 65', and for the last decade of that period it was 53° 65', showing a change of five degrees for the colder since 1797. Some of the cold seasons in that day, however, were intensely severe. The lowest degree of Fahrenheit's -thermometer ever registeied in the city was noted January 8, of the year last named, when, according to the observations of Colonel Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the Northwest Territory, it went to 18°, and would have gone lower, it is believed, had not the then dense forests of southern Ohio and the Cincinnati basin broken the icy northwest wind that prevailed. The winter of 1806-7 was also thoroughly frigid, and the seventh of February, of that season, when the thermometer marked 11° below, has come down in local tradition as "the cold Friday." Other cold winters were those of 1855-6, 1856-7, and 1857-8, when the thermometer thirty-two times indicated temperatures below zero, and at one time the Ohio was for two months so solidly frozen over that loaded wagons crossed safely. Another severe winter was that of 1863-4, which brought so much suffering to soldiers in the army. On the first of January, 1864, which has a permanent reputation in meteorology as "the cold New Year," 14° below was touched at Cincinnati. Since then, the win-

The average rainfall per year, during the eighty-three years designated, has been 39.71 inches, and somewhat lighter, 37.61, for the last twenty-five years of the period. Least fell in 1856 - 22.88 inches; and most, 69.42, in 1847. The average snowfall annually is about twenty inches, against thirty-five in central and northern Ohio. The greatest depth at one time ever observed in southern Ohio was twenty-eight inches, January 18, 1862, though twenty-two fell January 19, 1846. Sixty-nine inches fell in the winter of 1855-6, and sixty-five just ten years thereafter. Snowfalls in April sometimes occur, but very seldom later. April 20, 1814, ten inches fell, and five April 11, 1874.

Forest trees abounded in the early day in great variety, and are still, notwithstanding the dense population and extensive cultivation of the soil in the county, prominent among its physical features. Dr. Drake in his day enumerated over one hundred and twenty species, and from their number and the luxuriance of the forest growth he argued the superiority of the soil to that of the United States generally - "for it has as many kinds of trees above sixty feet in height as all the States taken together, while it has only one-half the number of species." He also enumerates a great number of such herbaceous plants as are deemed useful in medicine and the arts, most of which are indigenous to the soil. . Of trees, the following-named are twenty of the most common species in Ohio, which are now found in Hamilton county, in the relative order of abundant growth in which they appear in the list: Oak, beech, hickory, sugar maple, poplar, walnut, elm, sycamore, ash, locust, mulberry, pine, cottonwood, white walnut (butternut), cherry, gum, soft maple, tulip, buckeye, and silver maple. In 1853 the county still had eighty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty-three acres, or thirty-seven and seven-tenths per cent. of the area, in forest; within seventeen years thereafter fiftythree thousand six hundred and fifty acres were removed, and in 1870 it had but thirty-four thousand four hundred and seventy-three acres in forest, or fourteen and seventysix hundredths per cent. of its acreage - by far the least of any county in the State - and the breadth of its woods is annually decreasing.

The great municipality of Hamilton county, as all the world knows, is of course Cincinnati, with its area comprising about one-fourteenth of the entire territory of the county and its population of more than a quarter of a million.

Miami and the Clermont county line, and Spencer, adjoining the city; west of Cincinnati, in order - Delhi and Miami. Those west of the Great Miami are Whitewater, Harrison (in the northwestern corner of the county), and Crosby (east of Harrison on the lines of Butler county and the Little Miami river). Other townships in the northern tier, between the Great and Little Miamis, from west to east, are Colerain, Springfield, Sycamore, and Symmes. There remain, all these adjoining Cincinnati, Green township on the west, Mill Creek township on the north, and Columbia, between Mill Creek and the Little Miami.

The post offices of the county, besides Cincinnati, are [February, 1881]: Banesburgh, Bevis, Bond Hill, California, Carthage, Cedar Point, Cherry Grove, Cheviot, Cleves, College Hill, Columbia,* Creedville, Corryville,* Cumminsville,* Delhi, Dent, Dunlap, East Sycamore, Elizabethtown, Elmwood Place, Evendale, Forestville, Fruit Hill, Glendale, Grand Valley, Groesbeck, Harrison, Hartwell, Karr, Linwood, Lockland, Ludlow Grove, Madeira, Madisonville, Miami, Mill Creek,* Montgomery, Mount Airy, Mount Healthy, Mount Lookout, Mount Washington, Newton, North Bend, Norwood, Oakley, Plainville, Pleasan Ridge, Pleasant Run, Pleasant Valley, Preston, Reading, Remington, Riverside, Sater, Shannville, Sixteen Mile Stand, Sedamsville,* Spring Dale, Sweet Wine, Symmes, Taylor's Creek, Terrace Park, Transit, Trautman Walnut Hills, Winton Place, West Riverside, and Wyoming. Many of these are also incorporated villages; those marked * are within the corporate limits of Cincinnati, and are branches or "stations" of the Cincinnati post office.