Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Ganges, Ohio

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Bloominggrove Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44875. It stands on Leatherwood Creek. The Survey maps it on the Shiloh quadrangle.

Ganges within Richland County

Then and now

1915 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 79 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Ganges, surveyed 1994

Topographic sheet of Ganges, surveyed 1915

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

8,572 words on this township

History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the Original Boundaries) ; Its Past and Present, Containing a Condensed Comprehensive History of Ohio, Including an Outline History of the Northwest, a Complete History of Richland County ... Miscellaneous Matter, Map of the County, Biographies and Histories of ... the Most Prominent Families, &c., &c., published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Bloominggrove Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In 1815, George Hackett, before mentioned, came, settling on Section 19 - his grandson, William Hackett, now owns the farm. Daniel and James Ayers, William Trucks and Richard Sloman also came, settling near the present site of the village of Ganges. In the spring of 1816, William Guthrie came from Harrison County, Ohio (formerl}' from Pennsjdvania), settling on Section 18. This farm is now occupied b}' his gi-andsons - Ransom F. and Arkinson B. Guthrie. Henry Stoner came at the same time, settling on Section 1 5.

Passage source: History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the Original Boundaries) ; Its Past and Present, Containing a Condensed Comprehensive History of Ohio, Including an Outline History of the Northwest, a Complete History of Richland County ... Miscellaneous Matter, Map of the County, Biographies and Histories of ... the Most Prominent Families, &c., &c., published 1880.

The first mill was erected at Trucksville (Ganges) in 1816. by William Trucks and Daniel Ayers, on the Black Fork in the southwest part of the township. It was a poor concern, but a good deal better than none. The buhrs were manufactured out of -' nigger heads." They also erected, at the same time and place, a sawmill and a distiller}-, thus furnishing the three great staples of the time - flour, lumber and whisk3^ This mill was in operation, perhaps, fifteen years. It could only run a small portion of the year, as it stood on low ground and the frequent overflow of the Black Fork kept it blocked up a good deal of the time. It finally became a place of bad repute, a resort of " bummers," and as the settlers generalh- lost part of their grist and sometimes the entire grist, the}- ceased to patronize it.

In a very early day, Samuel Rogers erected a horse-mill in the northeast part of the township, to which the early settlers resorted, and where they were compelled to wait from one to three days for a grist, passing the time pleasantly pitching quoits, wrestling, jumping, shooting at a mark, etc., living meanwhile at Mr. Rogers' expense. The only mill in the township at present was erected by Walter Shupe, in Rome. It is owned by Mr. Bricker, of Ganges, and is a steam-mill.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Bloominggrove Township - it names this place 7 more 7 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2020

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Ganges between 2020 and 2020, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
25 July 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	15794

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Richland County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 126 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 126 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ganges between 1839 and 1975: 73 Animalia, 30 Plantae, 23 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Berra, T. (Tim), Chase, H. (Hazel), Colby, J. and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Botrychium virginianum subsp. virginianum	1895	Wilkinson, E.	Mansfield. In low woods.
Sphacelotheca reiliana (J.G.Kühn) G.P.Clinton	1897	W. A. Kellerman
Ustilago reiliana J.G.Kühn	1897	Prof. W. A. Kellerman
Asplenium platyneuron (L.) Oakes	1839	J. Wolle	Bethlehem.
Athyrium thelypterioides (Michaux) Desvaux	1840	J. Wolle	Bethlehem.
Cypripedium parviflorum Salisb.	1869	N. L. Britton	northern Ohio
Linum usitatissimum L.	1885	Wilkinson, E.	along RR banks, Mansfield
Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium (L.) Hilliard & B.L.Burtt	1886	Wilkinson, E.	Mansfield
Equisetum arvense L.	1888	Wilkinson, E.	Mansfield
Anemonella thalictroides (L.) Spach	1892	E. Wilkinson	Richland County
Athyrium filix-femina subsp. angustum (Willd.) R.T.Clausen	1892	Wilkinson, E.	Richland County
Campylophyllum hispidulum (Brid.) Hedenäs	1892	E. Wilkinson

All 126 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Ganges: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Ohio Pit	Clay	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Ohio Pit	Clay	Past Producer
Richland Pit	Clay	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Richland County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Rome	2.2 miles	14
Shenandoah	3.3 miles	15
London	3.6 miles	13
Planktown	3.8 miles	14
Taylortown	4.2 miles	14
Shiloh	4.7 miles	14
Carefree Estates	4.8 miles	13
Amoy	5.4 miles	14

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1064701. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.