Stark County, Ohio - Chapter 1: Introductorv -Topography -Geology -Primitive-Races -Antiquities -Indiantribes, 1881

THE present State of Ohio, comprising an extent of country 211) miles north and south, 220 miles e;ist and west, in length and lireadtli - 25,576,969 acres - is a part of the Old Northwest Territory. This Territory embraced all of the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and si> much of Minnesota as lies east of the Mississij>pi River. It became a corporate existence soon after the formation of the Virginia Colony, and when that colony took on the dignity of State government it became a county thereof, wliosc exact outline was unknown. The county embraced in its limits more territory than is comprised in all the New England and Jliddle States, and was the hirgest county ever known in the United States. It is watered by the finest sy.^tem of rivers on the globe ; while its inland seas are without a parallt>l. Its entire southern boundary is traversed by the beautifiil Ohio, its western by the majestic Mississippi, and its northern and a part of its eastern are bounded by the fresh-water lakes, wliose clear waters preserve an even temperature over its entire surface. Into these reservoirs of commerce flow innumerable streams of limpid water, which come from glen and dale, from mountain and valley, from forest and prairie - all avenues of healtli, commerce and prosperity. Ohio is in the best part of this territory - south of its river are tropical heats ; north of Lake Erie are polar snows and a polar climate.

The tcrritorj- compri.scd in Ohio has always remained the same. Ohio's history differs somewliat iiom other States, in that it was nmer uniler Territorial government. When it was created, it was made a State, and did not pass through the stage incident to the most of other States, /. c, cxi.st as a Territory before being advanced to the powers of a State. Such was not the case with the other States of the West ; all were Territories, with Territorial forms of government, ere they became States.

Ohio's boundaries are, on the north, Lakt'Erie, and Michigan ; on the west, Indiana ; on the south, the Ohio lliver, separating it from Kentucky; and, on the e;ust, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It is situated between 38° 25' and 42° north latitude ; and 80° 30' and 84° 50' west longitude from Greenwich, or 3° 30' and 7° 50' west from Wa.shington. Its greatest length, from north to south, is 21 0 miles ; the extreme width, from east to west. 220 miles. Were this an exact outline, the area of the State would be 40,200 S(|uare miles, or 29,568,000 acres ; as the outlines of tlic State are, however, rather irregular, the area is estimated at 39,904 square miles, or 25,576,960 acres. In the last census - 1870 - the total number of acres in Ohio is given as 21,712,420, of which 14,469,132 acres are improved, and 6,883,- 575 acres are woodland. By the la-st statistical report of the State Auditor, 20,905,3713 acres are reported as taxable lands. This omits many acres untaxable for various reasons, which would make the estimate, 25,576,960, nearly coirect.

The face of the countiy, in Ohio, taken as a whole, presents the ajijiearance of an extensive monotonous plain. It is n)oderately undulating but not mountainous, and is excavated in places by the streams coursing over its surface, wliose waters have forced a way for themselves through cliffs of sandstone rock, leaving abutments of this material in bold outline. There are no mountain ranges, geological uplifts or peaks. A low ridge enters the State, near tlie northeast corner, and crosses it in a southwesterly direction, emerging near tlic intersection of tlie 4ilth degree of north latitude with the western boundary of the State. Thi.s " divide " separates the lake and Ohio River waters, and maintains an elevation of a little more than thii'tccn hundred feet above the level of the ocean. The liighest part is in Logan County, where the elevation is 1,550 feet.

North of this ridge the surflice is generally level, with a gentle inelination t<iward the lake, the ine- ((ualities of the surtiiee being caused by the streams which empty into the lake. The central part of Ohio is almost, in general, a level plain, about one thousand feet above the level of the sea, slightly inclining southward. The Southern part of the State is rather billy, the valleys growing deeper as they incline toward the gi-eat valley of the Ohio, which is several hundred feet below the general level of the State. In the southern counties, the surface i.s generally divensified by the inequalities produced by the excavating power of the Ohio Kiv(?i- and its tributaries, exercised through long periods of time. There are a few prairies, or plains, in the central and northwestern parts of the State, but over its greater poi tion originally existed immense growths of timber.

The '' divide," or water-shed, referred to, between the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio River, is leiss elevated in Ohio than in New York and Pennsylv:iiiia. though the difference is small. To a persiin passing over the State in a liallnon, its surt'ace presents an unvarynig plain, while, to one .sailing down the Ohio River, it appears mountainous. On this river are bluffs ranging fi'om two hundred and fifty to six hundred feet in height. As one ascends the tributaries of the river, these bluffs diminish in height until they become gentle undulations, while toward the sources of the streams, ill the central part of the State, the banks often become low and marshy.

The principal rivers are the Ohio, Muskingum, Scioto and Miami, ou the southern slope, emptying into the Ohio ; on the northern, the Maumee, Sandusky, Huron and Cuyahoga, emptying into Lake Erie, and, all but the first named, entirely in Ohio.

The Ohio, the chief river of the State, and from which it derives its name, with its tributaries, drains a country whose area is over two hundred thousand square miles in extent, and extending from the water-shed to Alabama. The river was first discovered by La Salle in 1601), and was by him navigated as far as the Falls, at Louisville, Ky. It is formed by the junction of the Alleghany and IMonongahela rivers, in Pennsylvania, whose waters unite at Pittsburgh. The entire length of the river, from its source to its mouth, is 950 miles, though by a straight line from Pittsliurgh to Cairo, it is only (il 5 miles. Its current is very gentle, hardly tliree miles per hour, the descent being only five inches per mile. At high stages, the rate of the current increases, and at low stages decreases. Sometimes it is barely two miles per hour. The average range between liii;h and lew water mark is fifty feet, although several times the river has ri.sen more than sixty feet above low water mark. At the lowest stage of the river, it is fordable many places between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The river abounds in islands, seme of which are exceedingly fertile, and noted in the history of the West. Othens, known as '' tow-heads," are simply deposits of sand.

The Scioto is one of the largest inland streams in the State, and is one of the most beautiful ri\- ers. It rises in Hardin County, flows southeasterly to Columbus, where it receives its largest affluent, the Olentangy er Whetstone, after which its direction is southerly until it enters the Ohio at Portsmouth. It flows through one of the richest valleys in the State, and has for its companion the Ohio and Erie Canal, for a distance of ninety miles. Its tributaries are, besides the Whetstone, the Parljy, Walnut and Paint Creeks.

The jMuskingum River is formed by the junction of the Tuscarawas and ^\'aIdh(lning Rivers, which rise in the northern part of the State and unite at Coshocton. From the junction, the river flows in a southeastern course about one hundred miles, through a rich and pepuleus valley, to the Ohio, at Marietta, the oldest .'settlement in the State. At its outlet, the Muskingum is over two hundred 3'ards wide. By improvements, it has been made navigable ninety-five miles above Marietta, as far as Diesden, where a side cut, three miles long, unites its waters with those of the Ohio Canal. All along this stream exist, in abundant profusion, the remains of an ancient civilization, whose history is lost in the twilight of autiijuity. J'Lxtensive nmunds. earthworks and various fortifications, are everywhere to be found, inclosing a mute history as silent as the race that dwelt here and left these traces of their evistence. The same may be said of all the other valleys in Ohio.

The JMiami River - the scenes of many exploits in pioneer day.s - rises in Hardin County, near the headwaters of the Scioto, and runs southwesterly, to the Ohio, pa.ssing Troy, Dayton and Hamilton. It is a beautifid and ra]iid stream, flowing through a highly productive mid ]iii]iulous valley, in wliich limestone and hard timber are abundant. Its total length is about one hunared and fifty miles.

The JIaumeo is the largest river in the northern part of Ohio. It n.-^es in Indiana and flows northeasterly, into Lake Erie. About eighty miles of its course are in Ohio. It is navigable as far as Perrysburg, eighteen miles from its mouth. The other rivers north of the divide are all small, rapid-running streams, aft'ording a large amount of good water-power, much utilized by mills and manufactories.

A remarkable feature of the topography of Ohio is its almost total ab.scnce of n.atural lakes or ponds. A few very small ones are found near the watiT-shed, but all too small to bo of any practical value save as vratering-places for stock.

Lake Erie, which forms nearly all the northern boundary of the State, is next to the last or lowest of America's " inland .sea.s." It is 290 miles long, and 57 miles wide at its greatest part. There are no islands, exc(?pt in the shallow water at the west end, and very few bays. The greatest depth of the lake is off Long Point, where the water is HI 2 feet deep. The shores are principally drift-clay or hard-pan, upon which the waves are continually encroaching. At Cleveland, from the first survey, in 1796, to 1842, the encroachment was 218 feet along the entire city front. The entire coast is low, seldom rising above fifty feet at the water's edge.

Lake Erie, like the others, has a variable surface, rising and falling with the seasons, like great rivers, called the " annual fluctuation," and a general one, embracing a series of years, due to meteorological cau.ses, known as the " secular fluctuation." Its lowest known level was in February, 1819, rising more or less each year, until June, 1838, in the extreme, to six feet eight inches.

Lake Erie has several excellent harbors in Ohio, among which are Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, Port Clinton and Ashtabula. Valuable improvements have been made in some of these, at the expense of the General Government. In 1818, the first steamboat was launched on the lake. Owing to the Falls of Niagara, it could go no farther east than the outlet of Niagara Kiver. Since then, however, the opening of the Welland Canal, in Canada, allows ve.ssels drawing not more than ten fi^et of water to pass from one lake to the other, greatly facilitating navigation.

were aj)pointed a committee by the Legislature of Ohio to report the " best method of obtaining a complete geological survey of the State, and an estimate of the probable cost of the same." In the preparation of their rejiort. Dr. Hildrcith examined the coal-measures in the southea.stern part of the State, Prof Riddle and Mr. Lapham made examinations in the western and northern counties, while Dr. Locke devoted his attention to cheiiiical analy.se.s. These investigations resulted in the presentation of much valuable information conc(Tning the mineral resources of the State and in a plan for a geological survey. In accordance with the recommendation of this Committee, the Legislatuie, in 1837, passed a bill ajipropriating $12,000 for the prosecution of the work during the next year. The Geological Corjjs appointee" consist<»d of W. W. Mather, State Geologist, with Dr. Hildreth, Dr. Locke, Prof J. P. Kirtland, J. W. Foster, Charles Whittlesey and Charles Briggs, Jr., Assistants. The results of the first j-ear's work appeared in 1838, in an octavo volume of 134 pages, with contribntions from Mather, Hildreth, Rriggs, Kirtland and Whittlesey. In 1838, the Legislature ordered the continuance fif the work, and, at the close of the year, a second report, of 286 pages, octavo, was issued, containing contributions from all the members of the survey.

Succeeding Legislatures failed to provide for a continuance of the work, and, save that done by private means, nothing was accomplished till 1869, when the Legislature again took up the work. In the interim, individual cntcrpri.se had done much. In 1841 , Prof James Hall jni.ssed through the State, and, by his indeiitification of several of the fonnations with those of New York, for the firsst time fixed their geologiital age. The ne.xt year, he issued the first map of the geology of the State, in common with the geological maps of all the region between the AUeghanies and the Jli.ssissippi. Similar maps were published by Sir Charles Lyell, in 184.5; Prof. Edward Hitchcock, in 1853, and by J. Mareon, in 1856. The first individual map of the geology of Ohio was a very small one, published by Col. "Whittlesey, in 1848, in Howe's History. In 1856, he published a larger map, and, in 1865, another was issued by Prof Nelson Sayler. In 1807, Dr. J. S. Newberry published a geological map and sketch of Ohio in the Atlas of the State issued by IL S. Stebbins. Up to this time, the geologicid knowledge w;is very general in its character, and, conse(|uently, eiToncous in many of its details. Other States had been formatiou.s a.s to age and area. Evidence was given which set at rest questions of nearly thirty years' standing, and established the fact that Ohio includes nearly double the number of formations before .supposed to exist. Since; that date, the surveys have been regularly made. Each county is being surveyed by itself, and it.s formation accurately determined. Elsewhere in these pages, these results are given, and to them the reader is refi^iTed for the specific geology of the county. Only general results can be noted here.

()n the general geological map of the State, are two sections of the State, taken at each northern and snuthorn extremity. These show, with the map, the griiTal outline of the geological features of ()hio, anil are all that can be given here. Both sections show the general an-angenient.s of the formation, and prove that they lie in sheets resting one u|iiin another, but not liorizontally, as a great airh traverses the State from Cincinnati to the hdie .shore, between Toledo and Sandusky. Along this line, which extends southward to Na,shville, Tenn., all the rocks are raised in a ridge or fold, once a low mountain chain. In the lapse of ages, it has, however, been extensively worn away, and now, along a large part of its course, the .strata which once arched over it are removed from its summit, and are found resting in regular order on either side, dipping away f\-om its axis. Where the ridge was highest, the erosion ha.s been greatest, that being the reason why the oldest rocks are exposed in the region about Cincinnati. By following the line of this gi-eat arch from Cincinnati northward, it will be seen that the llelilrrberg limestone ( No. 4), midway of the State, is .still unbroken, and stretches from .side to side ; while the Oriskany, the Corniferous, the Hamilton and the Huron formations, though generally removed from the crown of the arch, still remain over a limited area near Bellefontaine, where they

On the east side of the great anticlinal axis, the rooks dip down into a ba,sin, which, for several hundred miles north and south, occupies the interval between the Nashville and Cincinnati ridge and the first fold of the Alleghany Jlountains. In this basin, all the strata form trough-like layers, their edges outcropping ea.stward on the flanks of the AUeghanies, and westward along the anticlinal axis. As they dip from this margin eastward toward the center of the trough, near its niiildle, on the eastern border of the State, the oilier rocks are deeply buried, and the surface is here underlaid by the highest and most recent of our rock formations, the coal measures. In the northwestern corner of the State, the strata dip northwest from the anticlinal and pass under the iNIiehigan coal basin, precisely as the same formations east of the anticlinal dip beneath the Alleghany coal-field, of which Ohio's coal area forms a part.

The rocks underlying the State all belong to three of the great groups which geologists have termed " sy.stems," namely, the Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous. I^ach of these are again subdivided, for convenience, and numbered. Thus the Silurian system includes the Cincinnati group, the Medina and Clinton groups, the Niagara group, and the Salina and Water-Line groups. The Devonian system includes the Oriskany sandstone, the CarbouifiTous limestone, the Hamilton group, the Huron sliale and the Erie shales, Thi' Carboniferous .system includes the AVaverly group, the Carboniterous Conglomerate, the Coal Measures and the Drift. This last includes the surface, and has been divided into six jiarls, numbering from the lowest, viz,: A ghuialed surface, tlie (ilacial Drill, the Erie Clays, the Forest Bed, the Iceberg Drift and the Terraces or Beaches, which mark intervals of stability in the gradual recession of the water surface to its present level.

First. Subsequent to the Tertiary was a period of continual elevation, during which the topography of the country was much the .same as now, the draining .streams following the lines they now do, but cutting down their beds until they flowed sometimes two hundred feet lower than they do at present. In the latter part of this period of elevation, glaciers, descending from the Canadian

"^VcoH(/. Bj' a depression of the land and elevation of temjHTature. liie ulaiicrs retreated northward, leaving, in the iiitirior of the continent, a great hasin of fresh water, in which the Erie clays were <le)iosited.

^-Tliird. This water was drained away until a broad land surface was exposed within the drill area. Upon this surface grew forests, largelj- of red and white cedar, inhabited by the elephant, ma.stodon, giaut beaver and other large, now extinct, animals.

The submergence of this ancient land and the spreading over it, by iceberg agency, of gravel, s;ind and bowlders, distributed just as icebergs now spread their luads broadcast over the sea bottom on the banks of Newfoundland.

"/'V/?/i. The gradual draining-oft' of the watere, leaving the land now as we find it, smoothly covered with ;dl the layers of the drift, and well j)repared for human occupation."

" In six da\s, the Jjord made the heavens and the earth, and rested the seventh day," records the Scriptures, and, when all was done. He looked upon the work of His own hands and pronounced it ''good." Surely none but a divine, omnipotent hand ^ould have done all this, and none can study the " work of His hands" and not marvel at its completeness.

The ancient dwellers of the 3Ii.ssi.ssippi Valley will always be a subject of great interest to the antiquarian. Who they were, and whence they came, are still unanswered (iue.«tions, and may remain so for ages. All over this valley, ancl, in fact, in all parts of the New World, evidences of an ancient civilization exLst, whose remains arc now a wonder to all. The aboriginal races could tlirow no light on these f|uestions. They had always seen the remains, and knew not whence the}' came. Explorations aid but little in the solution of the problem, and only conjecture can be ent<'rtained. The remains found in Ohio e<|ual any in the Vallcj'. Indeed, some of them are vast in extent, and consist of forts, fortifications, moats, ditches, elevations and mounds, embracing many acres in extent.

"It is not }-et determined," says CcjI. Charles Whittlese}', "whether we have discovered the first or the original peojde who occupied the soil of Ohio. Modern investigations are bringing to light evidences of earlier races. Since the presence of man has been established in Europe as a cotemporary of the fossil elephant, mastodon, rhinoceros and the horse, of the later drift or glacial period, we may reasonably anticij)ate the presence of man in America in that era. Such proofs are already known, but the}' are not of that conclusive character which amounts to a demonstration. It is, however, known that an ancient people inhabited Ohio in advancre of the red nu-n who were found here, three centuries since, by the Spanish and French exj)lorers.

" Five and six hundred years before the arrival of Columbus," says Col. Charles Whittle.'sey, "the Northmen sailed from Norway, Iceland and Greenland along the .Vtlantic coast as far as Long Island. They found Indian tribes, in what is now New England, closely rcscnnbling tho.se who lived upon the coa.st and the St. Lawrence when the French and Engli.sh came to [lossess these regions.

" These red Indians had no traditions of a prior people ; but over a large part of the lake country and the valley of the Mississippi, earth-works, mounds, pyramids, ditehes and forts were discovered - the work of a more ancient race, and a people fir in advance of the Indian. If they were not civilized, they were not barbarians. They were not mere hunters, but had fixed habitations, cultivated the soil and were possessed of considerable mechanical skill. We know them as the Mottiu! Btii/i/i'fs, b(!cause they erected over the mortal remains of their ]irimipal men and women memorial mounds of earth or unhewn stone - of which hundrcKls remain to our own day, so liU'ge and higii that they give rise to an impression of the numbers and energy of their builders, such as we receive from the pyramids of f]gypt."

Might they not have been of the same race and the Simie civilization ? Many competent authorities conjecture they are the work of the lost tribes of I.srael ; but the best they or any one can do is onlj' conjecture.

" In the burial-mounds," continues Col. Whittlesey, " there are always jiortions of one or more human skeletons, generally partly consumed by fire, with ornaments of stone, bone, .«hells, mica and copper. The largest m<uind in Ohio is near Miamisburg, Montgomery County. It is the -second largest in the West, being nearly seventy feet high, originally, and about eight hundred feet in circumference. This would give a superficial area of nearl}' four acres. In 1SG4, the citizens of Miamisburg sunk a shaft from the summit to the naturtil surface, without finding the bones or aslies of the groat man for 'wlimu it was intended. The exjiioration has considerably lowered the molind, it being now about sixty feet in height.

" Fort Ancient, on the Little Miami, is a good specimen of the military defenses of the Mouud- Builders. It is well located on a long, high, narrow, precipitous ridge. The parapets ai-e now from ten to eighteen feet high, and its perimeter is sufficient to hold twenty thousand fighting men. Another prominent example of their works exists neat' Newark, Licking County. This collection presents a great variety of figures, circles, rectangles, octagons and parallel banks, or highways, covering more than a thousand acres. The county fiiir-ground is permanently located within an ancient circle, a quarter of a mile in diameter, with an embankment and interior ditch. Its highest place was over twenty feet from the top of the moat to the bottom of the ditch."

One of the most curious-shaped works in this county is known as the "Alligator," from its supjiosed resemblance to that creature. When measured, several years ago, while in a good state of ])reservation, its dimensions were two hundred and ten feet in length, average width over sixty feet, and height, at the highest point, seven feet. It appears to be mainly composed of clay, and is overgrown with grass.

iSpeaking of tlie writing of these people. Col. Wliittlfsey says : '' There is no evidence that they had al]ihabetical characters, picture-writing or hieroglyphics, though they must have had some mode of recording events. Neither is there any proof that they u.sed domestic animals for tilliui;' the soil, or for the purpose of erecting the im]i(ising earthworks they have left. A very coarse cloth of hemp, flax or nettles lias been found on their burial-hearths and around skeletons not consumed by fire.

" The most extensive earthworks occupy many of the sites of modern towns, and are always in the vicinity of excellent land. Those about the lakes are generally irregular earth forts, while those about the rivers in the southern part of the State are generally altars, pyraniiils, circles, cones and rectangles of earth, among which ibrtresses or strongholds are exceptions.

" Those on the north may not have been cotemporary or have been built by the same peojile. 1'hey are far less prominent or extensive, which indicates a people less in numbers as well as industry, and whose principal occupationwas war among themselves or against their neighbors. This style of works extends eastward along the south shore of Lake Ontario, through New York. In C)hio, there is a space along the water-shed, between the lake and the Ohio, where there are few, if any, ancient earthworks. It ajjjiears to have been a vacant or neutral ground between different nations.

" The Indians of the North, dressed in skins, cultivated the soil very sparingly, and manufactured no woven cloth. On Lake Superior, there are ancient copper mines wrought by the Mound- Builders over fifteen liundred years ago." Copper tools are occasionally found tempered sufScicntly hard to cut the hardest rocks. No knowledge of such temperiug exists now. The Indians can give no more knowledge of the ancient mines than they can of the mounds on the river bottoms.

" The Indians did not occupy the ancient earthworks, nor did they construct such. Thoj were found as they are now - a hunter race, wholly averse to labor. Their abodes were in rock shelters, in caves, or in temporary sheds of bark and boughs, or skins, easily moved from place to place. Like most savage races, their habits are unchangeable ; at least, the example of white men, and their efforts during throe centuries, have made little, if any, imjire.ssion."

When white men came to the territory now embraced in the State of Ohio, they found dwelling here the Irocpiois, Delawares, Shawanees, JFiamis, AVyandots and Ottawas. Each nation was composed of several tri!)es or clans, and each was often at war with the others. The first mentioned of these occupied that part of the State whose northern l)oundarv was Lake Erie, as far west as the mouth of the Cuyahoga Iiivor, wln-ro the city of Cleveland now is; thence the lioundary turned southward in an in-egular line, until it touched the Ohio River, up which stream it continued to the Pennsylvania State line, and thence northward to the lake. This nation were the implai-able I'o.'s of the French, owing to the fact that Champlain, in 1 GOO, made war against them. They occupied a large part of New York and Pennsylvania, and w.n'e the most insatiate C(.>n pun'ors among the aborigines. When the French first came to the lakes, these monsters of the wilderness were engaged in a war against their neighbors, a war that ended in their conquering them, possessing their territory, and absorbing the remnants of the tribes into their own nation. At the date of Champlain's visit, the southern shore of Lake Erie was oceujiicd by the Erics, or, as the orthography of the word is sometimes given, Erigos, or Errieuous.* About forty years atterward, the Iroquois (Five Nations) fell upon them with sueli fury and in such force that the nation \v;ls annihilated. Those who escaped tlie slaughter were absorbed among their coni(uerors, but allowed to live on their own lands, paying a sort of tribute to the Iroipiois. This was the policy of that nation in all its conquests. A few years after the concjuest of the Eries, the Iroquois again took to the war-path, and swept through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, even attacking the Mississi]i])i tribes. But for the intervention and aid of the I'rench, these tribes would have shared the fate of the llurons anil Eries. Until the year ITIMt, the Iro(|Uois held the south shore of Lake Eric so firmly that the French dared not trade or travel along that si(l(! of the lake. Their missionaries and traders penetrated this part of Ohio as early as 1G50, but generally suffered death for their zeal.

Having completed the conquest of the Hurons or Wyandot.s, about Lake Huron, and murdered the Jesuit missionaries by modes of torture which only they could devise, they permitted the residue (if the Hurons to settle around the west end of Lake Erie. Here, with the ( )ttawas, they resided when the whites came to the State. Their country was bounded on the south by a line running through the central part of Wayne, Ashland, Richland, Cra^'ford and Wyandot Counties. At the western boundary of this county, the line diverged northwesterly, leaving the State near the northwest corner of Fulton County. Their northern boundary was the lake ; the eastern, the Iroquois.

The Delawares, or " Lcnni Lenapcs," whom the Iroquois had subjugated on thcSus(|uehanna, were a.ssigned by their conquerors hunting-grounds on the ^luskingum. Their (^astern boundary was the country of the Iroquois (before defined), and their northern, that of the Hurons. On the west, they

- Father Louis Hennepin, in bia work published in 1684, thus alluilcs to the Eri.8: 'These good fathers," referring to the priests, " were great friends of the llurons, who told them tlmt the Iroquois went to war beyond Vircinia, or New Sweden, near u lalte whicli they called ^ Erigt,^ or 'Erie* which signifieB '/ft<f cat' or ' nation of the cat^* and because these savages brought captives from this ual'on in returning to tlieir cantons along this lake, the Hurons named it, in their language, * Erige.' or ' Erike,' ' the lake of the cat* and which our Canadians, in softening the word, have called ' Lake Erie.' "

Charlevoix, writing in 1721, says: "The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron i W^yandotl language, which was formerly seated on its banks, and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie, in that language, signifies *cat.* and, in some ACnuntB, this nation is called the ' cat nation.' This name, probably, comes from the large numbers of that animal found in this region."

extended as far as a line drawn from the central part of Uichland County, in a semi-circular direction, south to the mouth of Leading Creek. Their southern boundary was the Ohio Kiver.

West of the Delawares, dwelt the Shawanees, a troublesome peoph- its neighbors, whether to whites or Indians. Their country was bounded on the north by the Hurons, on the east, by the Delawares ; on the south, by the Ohio Kiver. On the west, their boundary was determined by a line drawn southwesterly, and again southeasterly - semi-circular - from a point on the .southern boundary of the llurons. near the .southwest corner of Wyandot County, till it intersected the Ohio llivcr.

All the remainder of the State - all its western part from the Ohio River to the Michigan line - Wiis occupied b\'th(^ Miamis, Mineaniis, Twigtwees, or Tawixtawes, a powerful nation, whom the Iroquois were never fully able to subdue.

These nations occupied the State, partly by permit of the Five Nations, and partl\- by inheritance, and, though composed of many tribes, wen; about all the savages to be Ibund in this part of the Northwest.

No sooner had the Americans obtained control of this country, than they began, by treaty and purchase, to aci|uire tlie lands of the natives. They could not stem the tide of emigration ; people, then as now, would go West, and hence the necessity of peacefully and rightfully acquiring the land. " The true basis of title to Indian tenitory is the right of civilized men to the soil for purposes of cultivation." The same maxim may be applied to all uncivilized nations. When acquired by such a right, either by treaty, purchase or con- (|uest, the right to hold the same rests with the power and development of the nation thus po.ssessing the land.

The English derived title to the territory between the Alloghanies and the Mississippi partly by the claim that, in discovering the Atlantic coast, they had ])ossessioii of the land from "ocean to ocean," and partly by the treaty of Paris, in February, 1763. Long before this treaty took place, however, she had granted, to individuals and colonies, extensive tracts of land in that part of America, based on the right of discovery. The Fri'nch had done better, and had acquired title to the land by discovering the laud itself and by consent of the Indians dwelling thereon. The right to possess this country led to the French and Indian war, ending iu the supremacy of the F]nglish.

The Five Nations claimed the territory in cjuestion by right of conquest, and, though professing friendship to the English, watched them with jealous eyes. In 1684, and again in 172(), that confederacy made cessions of lands to the English, and these treaties and cessions of lands were regarded as sufficient title by the English, and were insisted on in all subsequent treaties with the Western Nations. The following statements were collected by Col. Charles Whittlesey, which show the principal treaties made with the red men wherein land in Ohio was ceded by them to the whites :

In September, 172G, the Iroi|uois, or Six Nations, at Albany, ceded all their claims west of Lake Erie and sixty miles in width along the south shore of Lakes Erie and Ontario, from the Cuyahoga to the Oswego River.

in 1744, this same nation made a treaty at Lanca.ster, Penn., and ceded to the English all their lands "that may be within the colony of Virginia."

In 1752, this nation and other Western tribes made a treaty at Logstown, Penn., wherein they eoiifiruKMl the liancaster treaty and consented to the .setlleinciits snuth of the Ohio River.

February 13, 17(i:>, a treaty was made at Paris, France, between the French and English, when Canada and the eastern half of the Mississippi Valley were ceded to the English.

In nSo, all tlic tciritory south of the Lakes, and ea.st of the Mississippi, was ceded by England to America - the latter country then obtaining its independence - ^by which means the country was gained by America.

October 24, 1784, the Six Nations made a treaty, at Fort Stanwix, N. Y., with the Americans, and ceded to them all the country claimed by the tribe, west of Pennsylvania.

In 178.5, the Chippewas, Delawarcs, Ottawas, and Wyandots ceded to the United States, at Fort Jlclntosh, at the mouth of the Big Beaver, all their claims cast and south of the " Cayahaga," the Portage Path, and the Tuscarawas, to Fort Laurens ' Biilivar), thence to Loramie's Fort (in Shrlby ( 'imnt y i ; thence along the Pm-tage Path to the St. .Mary's River and down it to the "Omee," or Mauniee, and along the lake shore to the " Cayahaga.'

January I:!, 178G, the Shawanees, at Fort Finney, near the mouth of the Great Miami (not owning the land on the Scioto occupied by them), were allotted a tract at the heads of the two

February 9, 1789, the Iroquois made a treaty at Fort Harmar, wherein they confiraied the Fort Stanwix treaty. At the same time, the Chippewas, Ottaw.as, Delawares, and Wyandots - to which the Sauks and Pottawatomies assented - confirmed the treaty made at Fort Mcintosh.

August 3, 1795, Gen. Anthony Wayne, on behalf of the LTnited States, made a treaty with twelve tribes, confirming the boundaries established by the Fort Harmar and Fort Mcintosh treaties, and extended the boundary to Fort Recovery and the mouth of the Kentucky River.

In 1805, at Fort Indu.stry, on the Maumee, the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chipjiewas.Sliawanees, Menses, and Pottawatomies relin((uished all their lands west of the Cuyahoga, as far west as the western line of the Reserve, and south of the line from Fort Laurens to Loramie's Fort.

July 4, 1807, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawatomies, at Detroit, ceded all that part of Ohio north of the Maumee River, with part of Michigan.

November 25, 1808, the same tribes with the Shawanees, at Brownstown, Mich., granted the Government a tract of land two miles wide, from the west line of the Reserve to the rapids of the Maumee, for the purpose of a road through the Black Swamp.

September 18, 1815, at Springwclls, near Deti-oit, the Chippewas, Ottawas. rnttawatoniies, Wyandots, ])ela\vares, Senecas and Miamis, having been engaged in the war of 1812 on the Britisli side, were confined in the grants made at Fort Mcintosh and Greenville in 1785 and 1795.

September 29, 1817, at the rapids of the Maumee, the Wyandots ceded their lands west of the line of 1805, as far as Loramie's and the St. Mary's River and north of the Maumee. The Pottawatomies. Chippewas, and Ottawas ceded the territory west of the Detroit line of 1807, and north of the Maumee.

October (5, 1818, the Miamis, at St. Mary's, made a treaty in which they surrendered the remaining Indian tenitory in Ohio, north of the Greenville treaty line and west of St. Mary's River.

one by Gen. Forbes, at Furt Pu Quesne { Pittsburdi ), in ITo.S; one by ("ul. IJiudstrcct, at Erie, in Aujrufit. 17t>4; one by (Vil. Bi)i|ui't, at the mouth of" the Walhondiiitr, in November, 17ti4 ; in May, 171)5, at Johnson's, on the Moliawk, and at I'liiladelphia, tlie same year; in 1774, by Lord Dunmore, at Camj) Charlotte, Pieliaway County. By tbe treaty at tlic Maumee Ila|ii(ls. in 1S17, reservations were eonveyed by the United States to all the tribes, with a view to induce thcni to eultivat« the soil and cease to be hunters. These were, from time to time, as tlie inipriteticability of the plan became manifest, pureha.scd by the Government, the hi-st of these being the Wyandot Reserve, of twelve miles square, around Ujtpcr Sanilusky, in 1842, closing out all claims and composing all the Indian difficulties in Ohio. The open war had ce;ised in 1815, with the treaty of Ghent.

" It is estimated that, from the French war of 1754 to the battle of the Maumee Rapids, in 1794, a period of forty years, there had been at least 5,000 people killed or captured west of the

Alleghany Mountains. Eleven organized military c.xiii'ditiniis had been carried on against the Western Indiaiis jirior t/o the war of 1812, seven regular engag<'ments fought and about twelve hundred men killed. More whites were slain in batth; than there were In<lian braves killed in military e.Npeditions, and liy jirivate raids and murders; yet, in ISI 1, all the Ohio tribes conibiued could not muster 2,<III0 warriors."

Attempts to determine the number of persons comprising the Indian tribes in Ohio, and their location, have resulted in nothing better than e.stimates. It is sup])osed that, at the commencement of the Revolution, there were about six thousand Indians in the present confines of the State, but their villages were little more than movable camps. Savages men, like savage beasts, are engaged in continual uiigralioiis. Now, none are left. The white man occupies the home of the red mau. Now