Nile Township

Nile Township

Nile Township has the distinction of being the largest township in the County. It is one of the four original townships and has retained its original shape much more than any of the others. When it was organized, August 9, 1803, the boundary was as follows: On the west by the county line, on the south by the Ohio river, on the east by Carey's Run and on the north by the top of the dividing ridge between Pond Creek and Scioto Brush Creek and the Ohio River. But two changes have been made since that time. The eastern boundary was changed from Carey's Run to Stony Run, when Washington Township was created in 1814. The north-western corner was enlarged by adding to it the region at the head of Rocky Fork.

The area at present is 51,438 acres. The assessed value of real estate in 1902 was $240,030; personal property, $61,780; total, $302,810. It ranks third in population, sixth in value of real estate, eleventh in value of personal property, eighth in value of property of all kinds.

The beautiful and fertile Ohio Valley extends the entire length of the township and makes one of the most productive farming regions in the county. Some valuable farm land lies along Turkey Creek, Pond Run and Twin Creek. The Creek and Valley region contains the population and very little farming is done elsewhere. The creeks named take their beginning within the northern border of the township, and have a rapid fall to the Ohio Valley. The hills descend precipitously to the valley below and present a long line of rocky prominences. The country back from the river and away from the above named creeks is very rough and broken, and not adapted to tillage. Recently a drove of three hundred Angora goats was turned loose in this region as an experiment.

Mitchell, George M. Kinney, John Tucker, David McCall, George Hutton, Abraham Tucker, Sr., Jesse Williams, Solomon McCall, John Calloway, Thomas Cooper and Middleton Harmon. Their first settlements were along the Ohio Valley. Later they ascended the streams and built their cabins there. The first lands located in the county lie in this township, Survey Number 453, entered in the name of James Culbertson, August 2, 1787, and surveyed, March 27, 1788. The largest part is now owned by George A. Vaughters.

The records of the Township prior to 1870 seem to have been lost and consequently nothing is known of the early officers of the township. In 1870, the trustees were: W. P. Williams, A. F. Givens and George Hoobler; Clerk, H. McCall; Treasurer, Mitchell Evans; Justices of the Peace, L. W. Elliot, William H. Williams. In 1902, the Trustees were: Alex. Cole, S. C. Compton, John T. Sullivan; Clerk, Albert Turner; Treasurer, Henry Cuppett; Justices of the Peace. Henry Lockhart, James M. Piatt, Solomon P. Mershon.

The first school taught in the township was taught about 1814. Now there are nine districts in the township, outside of Buena Vista. They were laid out in 1840. No. 1, is known as the Friendship school and has a two room frame building. Two teachers are employed, salaries of $40 and $35 per month. No. 2, is the Pond Run School. The salary of the teacher is $37.50 per- month. No. 3, is known as the Leatherwood School. The salary of the teacher is $37 .50 per month. No. 4, is known as the Elm Tree. It has a modern two-story frame building with a beautiful spreading elm standing in front. The salaries of the teachers are $40 and $35 per month.

Beuna Vista lies in a bend of the Ohio River in the southeast corner of the county. The valley on the Ohio is narrow and the hills rise back of the village abruptly. It was quite a thriving place once, when the stone business was at its best, but it has since become a very restful place. The village was. first platted by John McCall, September 3, 1850. The plat contains eighteen acres, sub-divided into 79 lots. Loughry and Caden's Addition was platted March 6, 1873, by W. L. and William Caden and John C. Loughry. This addition contained four and a half acres, sub-divided into twenty-one lots. A third addition was platted by J. M. Crockett, July 6, 1873. The plat contained three acres, sub-divided into 15 lots.

The schools of Buena Vista are on a par with the other schools of the county. It has from six to seven months of school, and pays its two teachers $50 and $35 per month respectively. The present modern frame building was erected in 1875 at a cost of $1,500. Three teachers were formerly employed, but now there are but two.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of this place was organized in 1857. The society built a church edifice the following year and Rev. Daniel Tracy was the first minister. The first trustees of this church were: Dr. W. A. Frizell, Joseph Smith and Jesse Williams. Among the members of the organization were: D. W. Murphy and wife; Joseph Smith and wife; Jesse Williams and wife; Thomas Williams and wife; David McDermott and wife; Mrs. S. B. Mc- Call. The membership numbers 65 and the Sunday School averages 60. Its pastor is Rev. S. A. McNeilan, and Miss Mary Sidell is superintendent of the Sunday School.

German Presbyterian Church. This church was organized in 1856 and its edifice was erected in 1871. Rev. Wiley was the first pastor. It has 40 active members and its Sunday School averages 40. Fred Weghorst is superintendent of the Sunday School, and Rev. T. M. Patterson. Jr., is the pastor. The church cost $4,500.

The Roman Catholic Church was organized in 1859 and its first meetings were held in the same building which it uses today. It was formerly an old store room, but was afterwards fitted up for church purposes. Rev. Bernard is the Priest, and services are held about once a month. It has 30 to 40 communicants and a Sunday School of 15.

Friendship is a small settlement on Turkey Creek, a quarter of a mile above the exit of the stream from the hills. For a number of years there were cooper shops in this place, owned by Andrew Angele, John Royse and

McKendree Chapel, M. E. Church was built in 1884. It is located on the south side of the Portsmouth and Buena Vista turnpike, near McGaw. The church is prosperous and growing. Rev. S. A. McNeilan is pastor. The trustees are: A. F. Givens, William Stockham, Lafayette Jones, Samuel Thatcher and David Metzger. It has 70 members and the Sunday School averages 60. A. F. Givens^ is serving his twenty-seventh year as superintendent.

Asbury Chapel M. E. Church is located on Pond Run and has a membership of 60, an average attendance at Sunday School of 30. Services are held every two weeks.

Wesley Chapel, M. E. Church at Friendship was built in 1897, at a cost of $2,500. It is a modern frame structure with a capacity of about 2,000 sittings. The Trustees are: C. E. Worley, Mitchell Evans, James Pyles, Henry Cuppett and George Vaughters. Rev. John C. Chandler is the minister. Its membership numbers 60, and its Sunday School averages 35. Mitchell Evans is superintendent.

The Mitchell Cemetery is on the Morrison Farm, and is noted for containing the remains of three of the old Associate Common Pleas Judges, Mitchell, Moore and Givens. Hon. Joseph Moore died October 28, 1884, aged 95 years; David Mitchell, Sr., died November, 1805, aged 72 years; David Mitchell, Jr., died November 19, 1883, aged 59 years, 8 months, 15 days; David Morrison, died March 23, 1863, aged 55 years, 6 months, 7 days; Martha, wife of David Morrison, died March 18, 1886; aged 73 years, 27 days; Sarah Mitchell, died September 19, 1801, aged 68 years; William Givens, died June 26, 1863, aged 80 years, 9 months, 8 days.

These lands embrace 745 acres in one body, lying partly in Scioto and partly in Adams counties in the state of Ohio. There are 254 acres in Scioto County and the remaining 491 acres are in Adams County. The bract is made up of no less than 12 surveys and parts of surveys in the Virginia Military District of the state of Ohio, numbered as follows;

These lands are now described, conveyed and embraced in two tracts (formerly described in twelve tracts) of which 168.75 acres in survey No. 1623 is the first tract and the remainder is the second tract, and contains 576.33 acres. The entire two tracts as one body, front for about one mile along the Ohio river on the north or right bank, beginning at the western line of the village of Buena Vista in Scioto County, Ohio, and extending thence westerly to the village of Rockville in Adams County, Ohio. The steamboat landing for the village of Buena Vista is upon this land and parties using it pay the present proprietor a rental. There is deep and good water along the entire river bank and between that and the foot of the hill.

The bottom land varies from 6 to 20 rods in width, and is separated from the hills by a county road, leading from Buena Vista in Scioto County, to Rome in Adams County.

Three small streams form in the hills and pass through the bottom lands to the Ohio river. First of these is Flat Run which flows along at a height of 375 feet above the river to the brow of the hill just in the rear of Buena Vista, is precipitated 300 feet down the hillside to the bottoms and then flows gently to the river. A broad valley extends from either side as it flows through the hills which rise 200 feet above it. A half mile west of Flat Run, a smaller stream. Grog Run, tumbles over the face of the hill, after finding its way through the hill which runs parallel with the river and having its source in two small forks which form in the valley to the rear of the hill. A quarter of a mile further on we come to what is known as Rock Run, and this is the largest of the three streams. It heads in the hills to the north of the Lougliry property, tumbles down as it flows on this property over 300 feet and winds through a deep gorge a distance of two or three miles before emerging finally on the broad bottom land just east of the village of Rockville.

The portion of these lands on the river front were located first as early as 1801 by General Nathaniel Massie. The late Judge Joseph Moore, in early life, was a stone cutter and he purchased two of the tracts on the river from Massie, prior to 1814, and in that year he built the famous stone house previously mentioned. He resided on these lands until 1830, and between 1814 and 1830 he made rafts of deadened poplar trees, loaded them with freestone from the foot of the hills and shipped them to Cincinnati for building stone, where was then and ever since has been a good market. There has not been a year since 1814 to the present that the Waverly stone has not been shipped from these lands or from adjoining lands to the Cincinnati market. The late John I.oughry went to Rockville in 1831, Judge Moore having retired to his farm four miles above Buena Vista in 1870. Mr. Loughry brought with him 16 yoke of oxen and 60 or 70 men to get out stone with which he built ten locks in the Miami canal at Cincinnati.

Judge Moore got his stone from the bottom of the hill, from those that had broken off in ages past, but John Loughry began his work at the top of the hill and there got his stone for the canal locks which he built, and which are perfect to this day and have stood the test of water, air and frosts for sixty years without any signs of disintegration. The foundation of the house he resided in, built of this same stone, is as perfect this day as it was 59 years ago when it was built, /and the marks of the bush hammer upon the stone are as fresh as though made but yesterday. Cincinnati is full of business and dwelling house fronts made of this stone and is largely used, when properly sawed, for paving sidewalks, for making steps and for window caps and sills, and for the latter purposes, in brick houses, its use in Cincinnati and surrounding cities is universal. Loughry first dragged the stone with ox teams to the river, afterwards built immense skids or chutes on the hill sides, down which the stone was run to the bottom of the hill, but finally built well graded roads down the hillsides and hauled the stone down on wagons. In more recent years, however, an incline railway was built near Buena Vista and locomotives were employed to haul stone from the quarries to the top of the incline and they were lowered to the bottom by endless cables, the loaded cars hauling up the empty ones. Stones were first loaded on decked scows by means of rollers and crowbars, but later great hoisting machines capable of lifting the largest stone were built in such a manner as to carry the stone from the land to the barges, greatly facilitating and cheapening the output. The decked barge for transporting stone down the river was a great stride above Judge Moore's log raft and these went down the river never to return, being sold to produce merchants at Cincinnati, and then after being loaded with produce were run to Louisville and New Orleafis markets. Timber, however, got to be scarce and towboats were brought into use, towing loaded barges to Cincinnati and returning the empties to be again loaded.

A certain ledge of stone seemed more popular with the stone workers o'f Cincinnati than the others, because of the evenness of color and the ease with which it could be worked, and to this ledge John Loughry gave the name "City Ledge" and by this name it is known to the present day throughout all markets where this stone is sold.

The "City Ledge" is a light drab or gray in color. For special orders, stone containing 300 cubic feet and weighing about 22 to 24 tons have been quarried and shipped away, but ordinarily blocks containing 50 to 70 feet are quarried. John Loughry in his day did not confine his work to any single ledge, but quarried ledges above and below the "City Ledge;" but since 1843, the work has been principally confined to the "City Ledge." For the construction of the locks in the canal at Cincinnati, Loughry used the yellow ledge on the top of the hill, and when the Trust Company Bank was built at the southwest corner of Third and Main streets in Cincinnati, a fine white ledge below the "City Ledge" was selected, and to this was given the name "Trust Company Ledge." Twenty-five years ago the old Trust Company building was pulled down to make way for a larger and more modern building, and when the new building was constructed the famous "City Ledge" was used. However, the stone taken out of the old building was in excellent state of preservation and the Trust Co. Ledge is really harder and more durable than the City Ledge, being older and having been subject to a greater pressure than the City Ledge! which lies some distance above it.

John Loughry died in 1862, and is buried in the Sandy Springs churchyard, three miles from the family residence, in what is known as the Irish Bottom. For his monument, three great blocks of stone were taken out of as many different ledges, were dressed and placed one on the other, making a lasting and appropriate monument to the memory of one who developed the stone industry here.

John Loughry retired from active work in 1856, and was succeeded by his son, John C. Loughry, who continued the work up to 1861, when the civil war came on and quarrying ceased. It commenced again in 1863 and John C. Loughry continued to work the quarries until 1865, taking out the stone for John M. Mueller to be used in the piers of the suspension bridge at Cincinnati. In this year, 1865, he sold out to the Caden Brothers who continued the work on a very large scale up to 1873, at which time Mr. Loughry re-purchased the tract.

We find no less than 60 ledges of stone ranging in thickness from eight inches to five feet. Twenty-two of these are below the "City Ledge," the lowest of which is 200 feet above the level of the bottom lands, thus being high enough to afford dump ground for all stripping and refuse matter. They are of an excellent quality, harder and finer grain than those above the "City Ledge." All these can be worked for more than a mile along the hills fronting on the river, and on both sides of Rock Run for two or three miles up that stream, the wide deep valley of that latter stream affords plenty of dump ground for all refuse matter.

This stone has been in demand for 77 years and there is no apparent indication of that demand lessening, on the contrary, it seems on the increase and the many industries springing up wherever the stone is found and where railroads have penetrated, can but strengthen that belief.

Not the least valuable features of this tract, are the clays found therein. These are as follows: 200 feet of black shale or clay extending from the level of the bottom land up to the lowest ledge of stone. This shale was formerly distilled (before the discovery of petroleum) for lubricating and illuminating oils. Lying above and on the city ledge is a stratum of blue clay which burns to a color of the famous Milwaukee brick and immediately below the city ledge is another vien of ten feet of the same blue clay lying on a sixteen foot stratum of black shale and all of these clays make an excellent grade of sewer pipe.

Sixteen feet above the city ledge and between a twelve inch ledge of stone on the bottom and a thirty inch ledge of stone on top, is a vein of ten feet of red clay which has gained some fame among lovers of pottery, on account of the beautiful vases and other articles made from it. It burns to a rich red-brown and stands fire better than any red clay that has been used at Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati. Beautiful building brick have also been made from it, and in this probably lies its chief value.

A two inch cube burned from this clay, on a test at the Smithsonian Institute, withstood a pressure of 110,000 pounds. This clay is adapted to the use in Art Pottery, for building handsome house fronts, and burned a little harder, in paving streets.

In this connection it might be mentioned that several articles of pottery made and decorated by Mrs. Bellamy Storer, from clay taken from these lands and burned at Rookwood Pot'tery. took a distinguished prize at the recent Paris Exposition, and Mrs. John C. Loughry has some very fine specimens of pottery made from the red clay.

In 1855, just before the war, under the magic of money, a curious structure arose on the hills near the lines of Adams and Scioto Counties. It was in a beautiful country, some little way back of Buena Vista. The cottage was of peeled white poplar logs, resin-varnished and mortar-daubed, it was therefore peculiar. It was seventy-four feet long by twenty-two feet broad: in two parts, on the plan of the ordinary double cabin, with a seventeen-foot-wide floored and roofed space between them. A stone kitchen in the rear is out of the view. The chimneys were also of stone. Vines were placed to climb over it, which they accomplished in profusion; the summer breezes fluttered their leaves and the autumnal frosts put on them a blush.

In the Buckhorn lived for a term its owner and architect, Honorable William J. Flagg, and wife, a daughter of the late Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, with occasional guests to share the romance of their solitude. On writing to him as an old friend and schoolmate, how he came to build it, and what he did when there, he gave this characteristic reply: "In 1852, I bought a fifty acre tract of hill land near Buena Vista, on the Ohio, through which the line runs that divides Adams and Scioto Counties, bought it because I supposed there, was valuable stone in it. This purchase led, step by step, to the acquisition of something over 9,000 acres adjacent. I cleared off woods and planted orchards and vineyards to the extent of more than 100 acres; opened a quarry; built a tramway, until my operations culminated in a log house on a hill-top, a mile east of the county line and a half mile from the river, where in different broken periods of the time from '56 till '68, we spent about five years. It was mighty like being out of the world, but none the worse for that. In that heritage we managed to lodge as comfortably as in a palace, and feed better than at Delmonico's. Our society, too, was excellent. William Shakespeare was a frequent visitor; Francis of Verulam was another, he was a nobleman, you know, a baron, so were others; Viscount Montesquieu, for instance, and Sir Charles Grandison. To prove how agreeable these made themselves, I will mention that the two packs of cards I provided myself with to pass away the time, were never cut or shuffled but for two games in the whole five years. Buckhorn, as we called the place, after the form of the hill and its branching spurs, was indeed an ideal retreat. I have never found a climate equal to it. But even souls at rest in Buddha's Deveghan, after a certain stay there, feel a desire to live again, and so did we, and we returned to earth. Two years later the cabin went up in flames. I am glad it did. No insurance."

Mr. Flagg is the author of several books, as "A Good Investment", "Three Seasons in European Vineyards", "Wall Street and the Woods", etc.' This last is a novel description of the wild h

Source changes here: from History of Scioto County, Ohio, Together with a Pioneer Record of Southern Ohio, by Nelson W. Evans A.m, published 1903; 3,850 words in this source stream.

Nile Township

Nile Township has the distinction of being the largest township in the County. It is one of the four original townships and has retained its original shape much more than any of the others. When it was organized, August 9, 1808, the boundary was as follows: On the west by the county line, on the south by the Ohio river, on the east by Carey's Run and on the north by the top of the dividing ridge between Pond Creek and Scioto Brush Creek and the Ohio River. But two changes have been made since that time. The eastern boundary was changed from Carey's Run to Stony Run, when Washington Township was created in 1814. The north-western corner was enlarged by adding to it the region at the head of Rocky Fork.

The area at present is 51,4388 acres. The assessed value of real estate in 1902 was $240,030; personal property, $61,780; total, $302,810. It ranks third.in population, sixth in value of real estate, eleventh in value of personal property, eighth in value of property of all kinds.

The beautiful and fertile Ohio Valley extends the entire length of the township and makes one of the most productive farming regions in the county. Some valuable farm land lies along Turkey Creek, Pond Run and Twin Creek. The Creek and Valley region contains the population and very little farming is done elsewhere. The creeks named take their beginning within the northern -border of the township, and have a rapid fall to the Ohio Valley. The hills descend precipitously to the valley below and present a long line of rocky prominences. The country back from the river and away from the above named creeks is very rough and broken, and not adapted to tillage. Recently a drove of three hundred Angora goats was turned loose in this region as an experiment.

Among the pioneers of this township were: David Morrison, David Mitchell, George M. Kinney, John Tucker, David McCall, George Hutton, Abraham Tucker, Sr., Jesse Williams, Solomon McCall, John Calloway, Thomas Cooper and Middleton Harmon. Their first settlements were along the Ohio Valley. Later they ascended the streams and built their cabins there. The first lands located in the county lie in this township, Survey Number 453, entered in the name of James Culbertson, August 2, 1787, and surveyed, March 27, - 1788. The largest part is now owned by George A. Vaughters.

The records of the Township prior to 1870 seem to have been lost and consequently nothing is known of the early officers of the township. [In 1870, the trustees were: W. P. Williams, A. F. Givens and George Hoobler; Clerk, H. McCall; Treasurer, Mitchell Evans; Justices of the Peace, L. W. Elliot, William H. Williams. In 1902, the Trustees were: Alex. Cole, S. C. Compton, John T. Sullivan; Clerk, Albert Turner; Treasurer, Henry Cuppett; Justices of the Peace, Henry Lockhart, James M. Piatt, Solomon P. Mershon.

The first school taught in the township was taught about 1814. Now there are nine districts in the township, outside of Buena Vista. They were laid out in 1840. No. 1, is known as the Friendship school and has a two room frame building. Two teachers are employed, salaries of $40 and $35 per month. No. 2, is the Pond Run School. The salary of the teacher is $37.50 per month. No. 3, is known as the Leatherwood School. The salary of the teacher is $37 .00 per month. No. 4, is known as the Elm Tree. It. has a modern two-story frame building with a beautiful spreading elm standing in front. The salaries of the teachers are $40 and $35 per month.

Beuna Vista lies in a bend of the Ohio River in the southeast corner of the county. The valley on the Ohio is narrow and the hills rise back of the village abruptly. It was quite a thriving place once, when the stone business was at its best, but it has since become a very restful place. The village was, first platted by John McCall, September 3, 1850. The plat contains eighteen acres, sub-divided into 79 lots. Loughry and Caden's Addition was platted March 6, 1873, by W. L. and William Caden and John C. Loughry. This ad- _ dition contained four and a half acres, sub-divided into twenty-one lots. A third addition was platted by J. M. Crockett, July 6, 1873. The plat contained three acres, sub-divided into 15 lots.

The schools of Buena Vista are on a par with the other schools of the county. It has from six to seven months of school, and pays its two teachers $50 and $35 per month respectively. The present modern frame building was erected in 1875 at a cost of $1,500. Three teachers were formerly employed, but now there are but two.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of this place was organized in 1857. The society built a church edifice the following year and Rev. Daniel Tracy was the first minister. The first trustees of this church were: Dr. W. A. Frizell, Joseph Smith and Jesse Williams. Among the members of the organization were: D. W. Murphy and wife; Joseph Smith and wife; Jesse Williams and wife; Thomas Williams and wife; David McDermott and wife; Mrs. S. B. Mc- Call. The membership numbers 65 and the Sunday .School averages 60. Its pastor is Rev. S. A. McNeilan, and Miss Mary Sidell is superintendent of the Sunday School.

German Presbyterian Church. This church was organized in 1856 and its edifice was erected in 1871. Rev. Wiley was the first pastor. It has 40 active members and its Sunday School averages 40. Fred Weghorst is superintendent of the Sunday School, and Rev. T. M. Patterson, Jr., is the pastor. ~The church cost $4,500.

The Roman Catholic Church was organized in 1859 and its first meetings were held in the same building which it uses today. It was formerly an old store room, but was afterwards fitted up for church purposes. Rev. Bernard is the Priest, and services are held about once a month. It has 30 to 40 communicants and a Sunday School of 15.

Friendship is a small settlement on Turkey Creek, a quarter of a mile above the exit of the stream from the hills. For a number of years there were cooper shops in this place, owned by Andrew Angele,- John Royse and David McCall. : i ae Ae ieee

McKendree Chapel, M. E. Church was built in 1884. It is located on the south side of the Portsmouth and Buena Vista turnpike, near McGaw. The church is prosperous and growing. Rev. S. A. McNeilan is pastor. The trustees are: A. F, Givens, William Stockham, Lafayette Jones, Samuel Thatcher and David Metzger. It has 70 members and the Sunday School averages 60. A. F. Givens is serving his twenty-seventh year as superintendent.

Asbury Chapel M. E. Church is located on Pond Run and has a membership of 60, an average attendance at Sunday School of 30. Services are held every two weeks.

Wesley Chapel, M. E. Church at Friendship was built in 1897, at a cost of $2,500. It is a modern frame structure with a capacity of about 2,000 sittings. The Trustees are: C. E. Worley, Mitchell Evans, James Pyles, Henry Cuppett and George Vaughters. Rev. John C. Chandler is the minister. Its membership numbers 60, and its Sunday School averages. 35. Mitchell Evans is superintendent.

The Mitchell Cemetery is on the Morrison Farm, and is noted for containing the remains of three of the old Associate Common Pleas Judges, Mitchell, Moore and Givens. Hon. Joseph Moore died October 28, 1884, aged 95 years; David Mitchell, Sr., died November, 1805, aged 72 years; David Mitchell, Jr., died November 19, 1883, aged 59 years, 8 months, 15 days; David Morrison, died March 23, 1863, aged 55 years, 6 months, 7 days; Martha, wife of David Morrison, died March 18, 1886; aged 73 years, 27 days; Sarah Mitchell, died September 19, 1801, aged 68 years; William Givens, died June 26, 1863, aged 80 years, 9 months, 8 days.

These lands embrace 745 acres in one body, lying partly in Scioto and partly in Adams counties in the state of Ohio. There are 254 acres in Scioto County and the remaining 491 acres are in Adams County. The tract is made vp of no less than 12 surveys and parts of surveys in the Virginia Military District of the state of Ohio, numbered as follows:

These lands are now described, conveyed and embraced in two tracts (formerly described in twelve tracts) of which 168.75 acres in survey No. 1623 is the first tract and the remainder is the second tract, and contains 576.33 acres. The entire two tracts as one body, front for about one mile along the Ohio river on the north or right bank, beginning at the western line of the village of Buena Vista in Scioto County, Ohio, and extending thence westerly for the village of Buena Vista is upon this land and parties using it pay the present proprietor a rental. There is deep and good water along the entire river bank.and between that and the foot of the hill.

Three small streams form in the hills and pass through the bottom Jands to the Ohio river. First of these is Flat Run which flows along at a height of 875 feet above the river to the brow of the hill just in the rear of Buena Vista, is precipitated 300 feet down the hillside to the bottoms and then flows gently to the river. A broad valley extends from either side as it flows through the ,hills which rise 200 feet above it. A half mile west of Flat Run, a smaller stream, Grog Run, tumbles over the face of the hill, after finding its way through the hill which runs parallel with the river and having its source in two small forks which form in the valley to the rear of the hill. A quarter of a mile further on we come to what is known as Rock Run, and this is the largest of the three streams. It heads in the hills to the north of the Loughry property, tumbles down as it flows on this property over 300 feet and winds through a deep gorge a distance of two or three miles before emerging finally on the broad bottom land just east of the village of Rockville.

The portion of these lands on the river front were located first as early as 1801 by General Nathaniel Massie. The late Judge Joseph Moore, in early life, was a stone cutter and he purchased two of the tracts on the river from Massie, prior to 1814, and in that year he built the famous stone house previously mentioned. He resided on these lands until 1830, and between 1814 and 1830 he made rafts of deadened poplar trees, loaded them with freestone from the foot of the hills and shipped them to Cincinnati for building stone, where was then and ever since has been a good market. There has not been a year since 1814 to the present that the Waverly stone has not been shipped from these lands or from adjoining lands to the Cincinnati market. The late John -Loughry went to Rockville in 1831, Judge Moore having retired to his farm four miles above Buena Vista in 1870. Mr. Loughry brought with him 16 yoke of oxen and 60 or 70 men to get out stone with which he built ten locks in the Miami canal at Cincinnati.

Judge Moore got his stone from the bottom of the hill, from those that had broken off in ages past, but John Loughry began his work at the top of the hill and there got his stone for the canal locks which he built, and which are perfect to this day and have stood the test of water, air and frosts for sixty years without any signs of disintegration. The foundation of the house he resided in, built. of this same stone, is as perfect this day as it was 59 years ago when it was built, and the marks of the bush hammer upon the stone are as fresh as though made but yesterday. Oincinnati is full of business and dwelling house fronts made of this stone and is largely used, when properly sawed, for paving sidewalks, for making steps and for window caps and sills, and for the latter purposes, in brick houses, its use in Cincinnati and surrounding cities is universal. Loughry first dragged the stone with ox teams to the river, afterwards built immense skids or chutes on the hill sides, down which the stone was run to the bottom of the hill, but finally built well graded roads down the hillsides and hauled the stone down on wagons. In more recent years, however, an incline railway was built near Buena Vista and locomotives were employed to haul stone from the quarries to the top of the incline and they were lowered to the bottom by endless cables, the loaded cars hauling up the empty ones. Stones were first loaded on decked scows by means of rollers and crowbars, but later great hoisting machines capable of lifting the largest stone were built in such a manner as to carry the stone from the land to the barges, greatly facilitating and cheapening the output. The decked barge for transporting stone down the river was a great stride above Judge Moore's log raft and these went down the river never to return, being sold to produce merchants at Cincinnati, and then after being loaded with produce were run to Louisville and New Orleans markets. Timber, however, got to be scarce and towboats were brought into use, towing loaded barges to Cincinnati and returning the empties to be-again loaded.

A certain ledge of stone seemed more popular with the stone workers of Cincinnati than the others, because of the evenness of color and the ease with which it could be worked, and to this ledge John Loughry gave the name "City Ledge' and by this name it is known to the present day throughout all markets where this stone is sold.

The "City Ledge" is a light drab or gray in color. For special orders, stone containing 300 cubic feet and weighing about 22 to 24 tons have been quarried and shipped away, but ordinarily blocks containing 50 to 70 feet are quarried. John Loughry in his day did not confine his work to any single ledge, but quarried ledges above and below the "City Ledge;'" but since 1848, the work has been principally confined to the "City Ledge." For the construction of the locks in the canal at Cincinnati, Loughry used the yellow ledge on the top of the hill, and when the Trust Company Bank was built at the southwest corner of Third and Main streets in- Cincinnati, a fine white ledge below the "City Ledge" was selected, and to this was given the name "Trust Company Ledge.' Twenty-five years ago the old Trust Company building was pulled down to make way for a larger and more modern building, and when the new building was constructed the famous "City Ledge'? was used. However, the stone taken out of the old building was in excellent state of preservation and the Trust Co. Ledge is really harder and more durable than the City Ledge, being older and having been subject to a greater pressure than the City Ledge, Which lies some distance above it.

John Loughry died in 1862, and is buried in the Sandy Springs churchyard, three miles from the family residence, in what is known as the Irish Bottom. For his monument, three great blocks of stone were taken out of as many different ledges, were dressed and placed one on the other, making a lasting and appropriate monument to the memory of one who developed the stone industry here.

John Loughry retired from active work in 1856, and was succeeded by his son, John C. Loughry, who continued the work up to 1861, When the civil war came on and quarrying ceased. It commenced again in 1863 and John C. Loughry continued to work the quarries until 1865, taking out the stone for John M. Mueller to be used in the piers of the suspension bridge at Cincinnati. In this year, 1865, he sold out to the Caden Brothers who continued the work on a -very large scale up to 1873, at which time Mr. Loughry re-purchased the tract.

We find no less than 60 ledges of stone ranging in thickness from eight inches to five feet. Twenty-two of these are below the "City Ledge," the lowest of which is 200 feet above the level of the bottom lands, thus being high enough to afford dump ground for all stripping and refuse matter. They are of an excellent quality, harder and finer grain than those above the "City Ledge." All these can be worked for more than a mile along the hills fronting on the river, and on both sides of Rock Run for two or three miles up that stream, the wide deep valley of that latter stream affords plenty of dump ground for all refuse matter.

This stone has been in demand for 77 years and there is no apparent indication of that demand lessening, on the contrary, it seems on the increase and the many industries springing up wherever the stone is found and where railroads have penetrated, can but strengthen that belief.

Not the least valuable features of this tract, are the clays found therein. These are as follows: 200 feet of black shale or clay extending from the level of the bottom land up to the lowest ledge of stone. This shale was formerly distilled (before the discovery of petroleum) for lubricating and illuminating oils. Lying above and on the city ledge is a stratum of blue clay which burns to a color of the famous Milwaukee brick and immediately below the city ledge is another vien of ten feet of the same blue clay lying on a sixteen foot stratum of black' shale and all of these clays make an excellent grade of sewer pipe.

Sixteen feet above the city ledge and between a twelve inch ledge of stone on the bottom and a thirty inch ledgé of stone on top, is a vein of ten feet of red clay which has gained some fame among lovers of pottery, on account of the beautiful vases and other articles made from it. It burns to a rich red-brown and stands fire better than any red clay that has been used at Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati. Beautiful building brick have also been - from it, and in this probably lies its chief value.

A two inch cube burned from this clay, on a test at the Smithsonian Institute, withstood a pressure of 110,000 pounds. This clay -is adapted to the use in Art Pottery, for building handsome house fronts, and burned a little harder, in paving streets.

In this connection it might be yoeutioned that several articles of pottery made and decorated by Mrs. Bellamy Storer, from clay taken from these lands and burned at Rookwood Pottery, took a distinguished prize at the recent Paris Exposition, and Mrs. John C. Loughry has some very fine specimens of pottery made from the red clay.

In 1855, just before the war, under the magic of money, a curious structure arose on the hills near the lines of Adams and Scioto Counties. It was in a beautiful country, some little way back of Buena Vista. The cottage was of peeled white poplar logs, resin-varnished and mortar-daubed, it was therefore peculiar. It was seventy-four feet long by twenty-two feet broad: in two parts, on the plan of the ordinary double cabin, with a seventeen-foot-wide floored and roofed space between them. A stone kitchen in the rear is out of the view. The chimneys were also of stone. Vines were placed to climb over it, which they accomplished in profusion; the summer breezes fluttered their leaves and the autumndl frosts put on them a blush.

In the Buckhorn lived for a term its owner and architect, Honorable William J. Flagg, and wife, a daughter of the late Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, with occasional guests to share the romance of their solitude. On writing to him as an old friend and schoolmate, how he came to build it, and what he did when there, he gave this characteristic reply: 'In 1852, | bought a fifty acre tract of hill land near Buena Vista, on the Ohio, 'through which the line runs that divides Adams and Scioto Counties, bought it because I supposed there was valuable stone in it. This purchase led, step by step, to the acquisition of something over 9,000 acres adjacent. I cleared off woods and planted orchards and vineyards to the extent of more than 100 acres; opened a quarry; built a tramway, until my operations culminated in a log house on a hill-top, a mile east of the county line and a half mile from the river, where in different broken periods of the time from '56 till '68, we spent about five years. It was mighty like being out of the world, but none the worse for that. In that heritage we managed to lodge as comfortably as in a palace, and feed better than at Delmonico's. Our society, too, was excellent. William Shakespeare was a frequent visitor; Francis of Verulam was another, he was a nobleman, you know, a baron, so were others; Viscount Montesquieu, for instance, and Sir Charles Grandison. To prove how agreeable these made themselves, I will mention that the two packs of cards I provided myself with to pass away the time, were never cut or shuffled but for two-games in the whole five years. Buckhorn, as we called the place, after the form of the hill and its branching spurs, was indeed an ideal retreat. I have never found a climate equal to it. But even souls at rest in Buddha's Deveghan, after a certain stay there, feel a desire to live again, and so did we, and we returned to earth. Two years later the cabin went up in flames. I am glad it did. No insurance."

Mr. Flagg is the author of several books, as "A Good Investment', "Three Seasons in European Vineyards", "Wall Street and the Woods', etc, This last is a novel description of the wild hill country in the regions back of Buckhorn, while the characters are mainly drawn from the very primitive inhabitants who dwell there, made so because of the inaccessibility of their homes, little or no intercourse being had with the outer world, not even in the ~ way of books and newspapers; while from the slender area of land for tillage, and the want of other industrial occupation, there is abundant leisure for meditation and the practice of a wisdom and morality peculiarly their own.