Springfield Township (part 2 of 69)

The Shawnees are now no more. The nation which gave birth to the great chiefs so intimately connected with the early history of Ohio, such as Blue Jacket, Black Hoof, Cornstalk, Captain Logan, Tecumseh, and the latter's vagabond brother, the Prophet, has gone out of history. at Thomas L. McKenney, late of the Indian Department, Washington, says:

Finally, a remnant of about eighty souls, to which this once fierce and. powerful nation had dwindled, removed, in 1833, to the western shore of the Mississippi.'

Notes On The Battle Of Piqua

There are many accounts of this affair, both written and traditional Nearly every writer who has treated of the early history of the West has something to say about George Rogers Clark and his achievements, among which this one is mentioned, yet there is an unsatisfactory want of such details and particulars as would be found in the official reports of a modern engagement.

l There are two accounts in Howes " Historical Collections of Ohio," one of which is reproduced from another work, while the other was from an article (fresh and new when Howe wrote) written, or dictated, by the late Abraham Thomas, of Miami County, who was a soldier in Clark's army. 'Thomas calls it a " bloodless. victory," yet he says they "took possession of all the squaws and papooses, and killed a great many warriors," which would hardly have been accomplished without some white man getting hurt. The most common statement is that the Indians lost seventeen warriors, and Clark a like number. There are some proofs that the whites suffered the loss of quite a number, and these scraps of evidence are now within reach of the present generation; for instance: The venerable Ezra Baker, of Mad River Township, who is now eighty-four years of age, remembers having seen the trench where Clark's men were buried, opened, and the remains of two or three men exposed. The spot where the Indians were buried was also determined by the same party of men. This was done on a sort of wager, or as proof that a certain stranger (who had made his appearance in that settlement a few days before, claiming to have been one of Clark's men) was not an impostor, but knew whereof he spoke in a blustering manner. Mr. Baker was about ten years of age at the time, and, boy-fashion, he followed the party aud witnessed the result.

The writer was one of a party of citizens, composed of Ezra and Leander Baker, Thomas Kizer (the veteran surveyor of Southwestern Ohio), William Whiteley, Esq., and others of the representatives of the early settlers, which party spent several days in examining the battle-ground of Old Piqua, with the view of more definitely ascertaining the site of the ancient stockade, council house, and other points of interest connected with the locality.

This was in July and August, 1880, just before the Clark-Shawnee Centennial, and, while no material evidence was found to indicate the burial-place of the whites, there is little doubt that the flag-staff at present standing in Mr. Baker's orchard, is within fifty feet of the spot.

The reader must remember that the whole ground is now in a high state of improvement, and digging pits and trenches can only be done to a limited extent. There were some remains of the stockade found in several places, the relative positions of which indicated its boundary lines; these were measured and examined by Col. Kizer, and duly noted in his field-book; other measurements and observations were also made.

Various notions have from time to time been entertained, by different people, in regard to the movements of Logan's command (Clark's right wing) during the fight. Without going into tedious details, it may not be amiss to call attention to some items which present themselves to any one at all familiar with the topography of the field of Piqua: First, the rocky canon of Mad River, known as "Tecumseh's Rifle Range," would hardly be entered by any coms mander, under the uncertain circumstances which surrounded Col. Logan, without first knowing that "the defile" was clear; second, to have marched eastward across the highland, which rises within the bend of the river, would have been going away from the scene of action, and away from the Indian rear. Both of the above suppositions are averse to his having " gone up the river three miles," or "to the confluence of Buck Creek" with Mad River.

The little valley of the stream known as Abberfelda Creek (which runs near the Sintz property), in its natural, unobstructed condition, would afford a tolerably safe route, and one leading in the direction of the rear ground of the enemv; besides, this, cireuit would extend about three miles in distance, which would be in accordance with the distance named in the early accounts of the battle.

The narrow defile through the cliffs is to be seen to-day, just as it was when the Indians filed through it on their way out of Clark's environment, except that the "floor," or rocky surface at the bottom, was leveled off, and in some places

This defile is worthy of a visit by any one at all interested in natural scenery with historie associations. The entrance is so hidden by the configuration of the cliffs, and by foliage, as to be unobservable by the passer-by, unless by an especial effort. ;

There is a wide, bowl-shaped valley or park just behind the old Indian town, which is so situated as to be entirely out of sight from any point or direction from which an enemy would be likely to approach; this valley is watered by half a dozen large springs, and penetrated by two or three narrow ravines, which open by small pathways to the uplands in the rear. This was the assembly-ground, where the Clark-Shawnee Centennial was held. For that occasion it was named Mingo Park. From its location and natural fitness, it is not unlikely that this park was used as a cover for the non-combatant portion of the Indian inhabitants.

During the early settlement of * New Boston " and vicinity, many relics and marks of the Indian occupations and Clark's engagement were found, and even now a rusty bayonet, or some other warlike article, is occasionally plowed up. Aside from these, nothing remains but the historie topography and the traditions of the day.

Tecumseh And Piqua

As this book contains an illustrated sketch of this celebrated Indian chief, any further remarks would be superfluous were it not true that the name of Tecumseh is to some extent connected with the early history of this particular county. That he was born here is as well established as any other unrecorded event in this connection.

There has been some confusion over the Indian name " Piqua," which, like many other names, was used in a sort of general way, and was applied to more than one locality. As to the origin of the word, or its complete signification, tradition informs us that the word " Piqua" signifies "a man formed out of ashes." It runs that many years ago the braves of the Shawnees were seated around their camp-fire, when a great puffing was observed among the ashes, and suddenly a fuli-grown man stepped forth - the first of the Piqua tribe - a sort of " Pheenix," as a more refined mythology called it. Of course all this was in accordance with the Indian notion of things. No "big" Indian was ever born, like other people, but came some way all at once, with the entire make-up of paint and bluster, and bloody knives sticking fast to him, and ready for business.

The first Piqua was in this county, and was afterward the site of the now vacant town of New Boston, which see. This Piqua has entirely disappeared as a name, except as a special designation of an historical point.

The second point yet retains the name, and is the city of Piqua. Miami County, Ohio. The third has been changed to Pickaway, and is the name of one of the counties of the State.

This much to explain how the confusion in regard to the birthplace of Tecumseh could occur: Drake's "Life of Tecumseh, " published in 1841, fur nishes the following:

" Some diversity of opinion has prevailed as to the birthplace of Tecumseh. It is stated by several historians to have been in the Scioto Valley, near the place where Chillicothe now stands. Such, however, is not the fact. He was born in the Valley of the Miamis, on the bank of Mad River, a few miles below Springfield, and within the limits of Clark County. Of this there is the most satisfactory evidence. In the year 1805, when the Indians were assembling at Greenville, as it was feared with some hostile intentions against the frontiers, the Governor of Ohio sent Duncan McArthur and Thomas Worthington to that . place to ascertain the disposition of the Indians. Tecumseh and three other chiefs agreed to return with these messengers to Chillicothe, then the seat of government, for the purpose of holding a 'talk' with the Governor. Gen. MeArthur, in a letter to Drake (the author), under date of November 19, 1821, says:

* When on the way from Greenville to Chillicothe, Tecumseh pointed out the place where he was born. It was in an old Shawanoe town, on the northwest side of Mad River, about six miles below Springfield." There are many other bits of evidence tending to establish this fact beyond a doubt. Comment . upon the life and deeds of this Indian would be out of place here, as he is referred to by various other contributors to this book. That he figured in some of the early scenes of this county is beyond dispute.

In this connection, the recollections of the late John Ross, of German Township, are given as alluding to Tecumseh and the state of affairs when he was in his glory.

"In those days, Indians were very numerous and quite hostile, so that the settlers lived in constant dread of them, many times being compelled to collect together for mutual protection. In 1806, during one of their outbreaks, all the whites for miles around collected at a place a few miles southwest of Springfield, since known as Boston, where they built a block-house. Col. Ward, Simon Kenton, and a few other of the prominent men of the party, went out and made a treaty with the Indians, which was kept about two years, or until 1808, when this treaty was renewed at the then village of Springfield. The militia and many other of the settlers met about sixty Indians, among whom were five or six chiefs, principal among whom was old Tecumseh. Mr. Ross remembered him as a tall, lithe figure, of good form, and fine, commanding appearance. He made a speech at the treaty, which, for an Indian, was remembered as being full of oratory, and remarkable for ease and grace of delivery. A white man had been murdered, for which the murderer was demanded, or the whole tribe would be held accountable. "Can you," asked Tecumseh, "hold your whole people accountable for a murder committed by one of your bad men? No; then you cannot hold us accountable."

In 1810, a false alarm was given, and again they gathered in different points for protection. The alarm had been given by some one out on the " Beech" who had heard the report of a gun, and, not waiting to learn the cause, ran all the way in to the settlement and spread the news that the Indians

Indian Occupancy

To follow the intricate maze of aboriginal intermixtures of tribes and nations, or to locate many of the tribal subdivisions of those old nomads, would require more time and space than the plan of this work will admit. The following extract from a paper entitled "Indian Migratiou in Ohio," lately published by the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society, and prepared by C. C. Baldwin, Esq., of Cleveland, seems to express about all there is to say on the subject, so far as this history is concerned.

"We find, then, about 1640, the Eries ranged in Ohio from near the east end of Lake Erie, to near the west, and held the country back (to) and part of the Ohio River. That everywhere west were Algonquins, probably the Miamis and Ottawas pressing upon them. That below them on the Ohio were the Shawnees, and southeast of them their kindred the Andastes, were the Algonquins POEs n oi 09 Lan 1 ; q3 :

"The early history of the Shawnees is scantily traced, their positions did not bring them within the early acquaintance of the whites, or the knowledge of history. When they applied to LaSalle for French protection, he replied they were too remote. * * * * * Within the period of history, they pushed into Ohio from Kentucky, and the Cumberland River is called, in the early French maps, the rivers of the ancient Shawnees. That was not the first time they had been upon the Ohio. After the destruction of the Eries, they seem to have been next south upon that river, and I cannot but believe that while the Eries were at peace with the Shawnees lived next south, probably in Southern Ohio and Kentucky. * * * * * In the historical map of Ohio, appearing in 1872 in Walling & Gray's atlas, and prepared by Col. Charles Whittlesey, the Indian occupation of Ohio appears as follows: The Iroquois and tribes adopted by them, in Northeastern Ohio, including the valley of the Cuyahoga, the Tuscarawas and Wheeling Creek. The Wyandots and Ottawas occupied the valleys of the streams flowing into Lake Erie, west of the Cuyahoga, but no farther up the Maumee than Fulton and Henry Counties. The Delawares the valley of the Muskingum; the Shawnees the Scioto and its tributaries, and as far east as to include Raccoon Creek, and west including parts of Brown and Highland Counties.

"There were also Mohawks, Tuscarawas, Mingos and (other) descendants, not named in a tribal way of the ancient Eries and Neutrals. These named tribes were all intrusive within the period of history.

"The Ottawas and Wyandots, although of different generic stock, lived much together, perhaps partly through sympathy in a similar downfall. They had been allies against the Iroquois, and in succession overcame.

" The Shawnees and Cherokees seem to have been the foremost in the great Indian migrations which met the Mound-Builders. It is thought singular that there are no traditions of that move.

" But when we think how faithless are the traditions among the whites of one hundred years ago, almost sure to be very wrong, even of one's great-grandfather, and that the Mound-Builders apparently left Ohio several hundred years ago, at least, the want of memory of that event does seem singular (?).

"Indians were always moving and warring. But the same careful linguistic study in America, that has told so much in the old world, will tell us something of the new."

Those who have attempted to glean the facts of the dim unrecorded past, for historcial use, will appreciate Mr. Baldwin's remarks in regard to the unreiability of even the latest traditions.

Many writers are inclined to the opinion that the Wyandots were among the earliest tribes on this soil, but, from the latest investigations, the conclusion seems to be that they were only a sub-tribe of the Eries and Iroquois.

The following letter is here inserted as being pertinent to this subject. though taken from the proceedings of the late Clark-Shawnee celebration:

The Shawnee Indians

The following paper, prepared by Mr. C. C. Royce, attache of the Interior Department at Washington, D. C., which preparation was by request of Gen. Keifer, gives in complete form, but condensed, a history of the Shawnees, from the earliest days of the country to the present, taken from ancient records preserved at Washington. It formed a portion of the papers introduced at the celebration and can be read at leisure with interest and profit:

My dear General: Our conversation of Friday last has troubled me a little. Your suggestion that I prepare an article on the history of the Shawnee tribe of Indians to be read at the approaching centennial anniverasry of the victory of Gen. George Rogers Clark over that unfortunate people, was one in which it would under favorable circumstances have been especially gratifying to me to comply. There are two reasons, however, why it would be next to impossible for me now to give such a full and satisfactory account of the Shawnees as would stand the test of reasonable criticism:

First - The time between now and the occurrence of the anniversary, is too brief, and, second - My investigations of the subject-matter of such an article are as yet by no means complete.

In spite of these serious drawbacks, however, I am willing to give a brief outline of my investigations and deductions, with the full understanding that it is to be considered as merely tentative and subject to such corrections - either of a minor or radical character - as the results of more elaborate inquiries may seem to justify.

The Shawnees were the Bedouins, and I may almost say the Ishmaelites of the North American tribes. As wanderers they were without rivals among their race, and as fomentors of discord and war between themselves and their neighbors their genius was marked. Their original home is not, with any great measure of certainty, known. It is altogether improbable that it ever will be. Many theories on the subject have been already advanced, each with a greater or less degree of plausibility. More doubtless will, from time to time, be offered, but after all, the general public will be restricted to a choice of probabilities and each must accept for himself that which to his mind shall seem most satisfactory and convincing.

First - In the year 1608, Capt. John Smith, of the Jamestown colony, in Virginia, proceeded upon an exploring expedition up the Chesapeake Bay. In the course of this expedition, he encountered and held communication with numerous nations or tribes of Indians then occupying the shores of the bay and its immediate vicinity. All these Indians lived in continual dread of a tribe known to them by the name of " Massawomekes." In the language of Smith: * Beyond the mountains whence is the head of the river Patawomeke (Potomae) the savages report, inhabit their most mortal enemies, the Massawomekes, upon a great salt water, which by all likelihood is either some part of Canada; some great lake or some inlet of some sea that falleth into the South Sea. These Massawamekes are a great nation and very populous." Smith further relates that the other tribes, especially the Pottawomekes, the Patuxents, the Sasquesahannocks and the Tockwoughes, were continually tormented by them, complained bitterly of their cruelty and were very importunate with him that he should free them from their assaults. This Smith determined to do, and, had not his project been vetoed by the Colonial Council, the history and

He did, in fact, encounter seven canoes full of them at the head of Chesapeake Bay, with whom he had a conference by signs, and remarks that their implements of war and other utensils showed them to be greatly superior to the Virginia Indians, as also their dexterity in their small boats made of the bark of trees, sewed with bark and well " luted " with gum, gave evidence that they lived upon some great water. When they departed for their homes, the Massawomekes went by the way of what Smith denominates Willoughby's River, and which his map and description show to be the modern " Bush River," which is on the west side of the bay and trends in a northwest direction.

The map accompanying the London edition of 1629, of Smith's Travels, located the Massawomekes on the south shore of a supposed large body of water in a northwest direction, and distant from the head-waters of the Patawomeke (Potomac) River some twenty-five leagues. This, making reasonable allowances for the discrepancies in topography, places them without doubt along the south shore of Lake Erie, with an eastern limit not remote from the present city of Erie, Penn., and extending thence westward.

I am aware that at least two eminent authorities (Gallatin and Bancroft), whom it would almost seem the height of presumption for me to dispute, have assumed that the Massawomekes and the five nations were identical. The more closely I have examined the evidence, the more thoroughly am I convinced of their error in this assumption.

At that date the most westerly of the five nations - the Seneca - was not in possession of the country west of the Genesee River. Extending from that neighborhood westward to and beyond the Niagara River and along the southeast shore of Lake Erie, the country was occupied by a numerous nation known to history as the Attiwandaronk or Neutral Nation, whose power was broken and the tribes destroyed or. dispersed by the Five Nations, but not until 1651, more than forty years subsequent to Smith's observations. To reach the country of the Five Nations from Chesapeake Bay, an almost due north course, or that of the Susquehanna River, would have been the natural and most convenient route to pursue. A route leading beyond the mountains, in which the Potomac River had its sources, would have been neither a natural nor convenient one for "mae. the shores of Lake Ontario and vicinity, then the country of the Five

It is highly improbable that war parties of this great Iroquois confederacy should have followed such a route in the face of the fact that the only tribes living along the line of the more direct route held them in great fear, and would gladly have allowed them to pass without molestation.

I assume, then, that the villages of the Massawomekes occupied the south and southwest shore of Lake Erie, and that they controlled the intermediate country to the Alleghany Mountains as a hunting range, frequently extending their war and predatory excursions to the territory of tribes east of the mountains and along the upper portion of Chesapeake Bay. Second - From the accounts of early French travelers and the relations of the Jesuit missionaries, we are advised for the existence during the first half of the seventeenth century of a nation of Indians who were called by the Hurons, * Eries," by the Five Nations, ^ Rique," and by the French, the "Chat, or Cat Nation." According to Sagard's History of Canada, published in 1636, the name of Chat, or Cat, is thus accounted for: "There is in this vast region a country which we call the Cat Nation, by reason of their cats, a sort of small wolf or leopard found there, im the skins of which the natives make robes. bordered and ornamented with

This nation occupied a tract of country on the south shore of Lake Erie, identical with that to which I have assignéd the Massawomekes of Smith. They were visited as early as 1626, according to the Jesuit relations, by two missionaries, Lagard and d'Allyon, who made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a mission among them; nor did the Jesuits, with the: constant zeal and persistence so characteristic of them, ever succeed in obtaining a foothold with the tribe.

At this time and for many years thereafter, they are spoken of as very numerous and powerful A war having broken out between them and the Five Nations, the Eries were utterly overthrown and dispersed about the year 1655. From this date we find no mention of their existence as a nation.

Schoolcraft, in his bulky and ill-assorted work on the " History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes," adopts the theory that the Eries and Neuters were one and the same people. That he is certainly mistaken, I hardly think there is room for reasonable doubt. The evidence of his error is abundant in the Jesuit relations, but I have only space to cite the testimony of Father Breboeuf, who visited the Neutral Nation in 1640, and remarked that only four towns of the latter nation lay east of the Niagara River, ranging from east to west. toward the Erielhonous or Chats. Also in speaking of Niagara River he says: "It falls first into Lake Erie or of the Cat tribe, and then it enters the Neutral grounds." Bressani, who spent some years in the country, also in his Breve Relatione, as is remarked by Shea, places the Neuters north of Lake Erie, and the Eries, south.

Third - Cadwallader Colden published his History of the Five Nations in London in 1747. He begins with the traditional period of their history. Tradition, with Indians as with white people. is often utterly unreliable and not unfrequently totally incredible. The traditions of the events unmediately preceding European settlement, from the recentness of their occurrence and their consequent freshness in the Indian mind, notwithstanding the average tendency to exaggeration and boastfulness, may, however, be esteemed as not wholly unworthy of confidence in the general facts related, regardless of their highly colored details. These traditions all concur ^n the assertion that the Five Nations, a short time previous to the period of French settlement in Canada, lived near the present site of Montreal; that, as a result of a war with the Adirondacks, they were forced to leave their own country and fly to the banks of the lakes on which they subsequently lived, where the war was at intervals renewed and was still in progress at the time of the French occupation of Canada. Here they applied themselves to increasing their proficiency in the use of arms, and in order to raise the spirits of their people to the Sachems, "turned them against the Satanas, a less warlike nation who then lived on the banks of the lakes, and who, in the course of a few years, were subdued and driven out of their country."

Colden doubtless borrows this relation from the account of Bacqueville de la Potherie, who was in Canada for several years anterior to 1700, and whose history of America was published about 1720. Charlevoix also has a similar relation. Both these authors. doubtless, as Judge Force has remarked, borrowed from the narrative of Nicholas Perot. who lived among the Indians for more than thirty years subseqent to 1665, and who enjoyed their confidence in an unusual degree. He relates that the Iroquois had their original home about Montreal and Three Rivers; that they fled from the Algonquins to Lake Erie, where lived the Chaouanous, who waged war against them and drove them to the shores of Lake Ontario. That after many years of war against the Chaouanous, and their allies. they withdrew to Carolina. where they now are That the Iroquois (Five Nations) after being obliged to nit Lake Erie. withdrew to Lake Ontario.

Here, then, we have in the earliest history of the country the names of three tribes or nations, who, by the accounts of different and widely-separated travelers, occupied the same region of the territory, viz.:

First - The * Massawomekes" of Smith, who lived upon some great lake beyond the mountains in which the Potomac River has its sources, and which Smith's map shows to be in the location of Lake Erie.

Third - The * Satanas," of Colden, (who, in the vocabulary preceding his work, gives the name as the equivalent of Shaonous and) the " Chaouanous," Perot, who lived on Lake Erie, and from the text of the narrative, evidently on the south shore to the west of the Five Nations.

By all the accounts given of these people, they were, comparatively speaking, very numerous and powerful. Each occupied and controlled a large region of territory in the same general locality; each had, so far as history and tradition can throw any light upon the subject, long been the occupant thereof. The fact that neither of these authorities speaks of more than one nation occupying this region of country, and neither seems to have had any knowledge or tradition of any other nation having done so, coupled with the improbability that three numerous and warlike nations should, within the historic period, have occupied so limited a region as the south shore of Lake Erie - and one which by water communication would have been so easily accessible for each to the other - without any account or tradition having survived of their intercourse, conflicts and destruction of one another, to my mind is little less than convincing evidence of the fact that three such distinct nations never had a cotemporaneous existence, and that the Massawomekes, Eries and Satanas, or Chaouanous, were one and the same people.

I am aware that the Chaouanous, or Shawnees as we now denominate them, speak the Algonquin tongue, and that the Eries have ever been linguistieally classed as of Iroquois stock; but of the latter fact there seems to be no more convincing proof than a passage in the Jesuit relations of 1648, asserting that the Cat nation have a number of permanent towns, * * and they have the same language with our Hurons. The Jesuits never succeeded in establishing a mission among the Eries; their intercourse with them was almost nothing, and they have left us no vocabularies by which their linguistic stock can be determined. I regard, therefore, the single volunteer remark as to their having the same language with the Hurons, as having less weight in the scale of probabilities than the accumulated evidence of their identity with the Massawomekes and Chaounous.

Their identity having been assumed, and the Eries having, by all accounts, been conquered and dispersed about 1655, it remains to trace the remnant in their wanderings across the face of the country. This is perhaps the most diffieult and most unsatisfactory task that enters into the consideration of the subject. I could not, even were it desirable, in the space allotted to such a communication, give more than a few of the most general facts. To do otherwise would occupy much more time and space than my present object would justify or require.

At this point I may remark that there is a manuscript map still in existence in Holland which accompanied a report made to the States General in 1614 or 1616, of the discoveries in New Netherlands, upon which a nation of Indians called " Sawwoaneu" is marked as living on the east bank of the Delaware River.

De Laet also, in the Leyden edition of his history, published in 1640, enumerates the "Sawanoos" as one of the tribes then inhabiting the Delaware River.

It is of course impossible at this late day, in the absenc to determine whether this tribe which seems ie have been ee Pen Die mue for more than a quarter of a century, bears any relationship to the modern awnees. It is not impossible that in the course of the conflicts between the " Satanas " and the Five Nations, a body of the former may have become seggregated from their friends and have terminated their wanderings by a MEER on the Delaware. The probabilities seem to be unfavorable to this hypothesis

The solution is more likely to be found in the fact that the word * de AR " eire southern. mos Delaware River was at that date known as South

The Eries after their overthrow do not again appear in the cotemporary relations or maps under that name except as a destroyed nation. Their former location is shown on De l'Isle's maps of 1700 and 1703, Senex's map of 1710 and numerous others. The survivors being driven from their ancient homes; their villages and property destroyed, and deprived of the lake as a principal source of food supply. were forced to resort to the chase more exclusively as a means of subsistence. These things would have a tendency to divide the tribe into small hunting parties and to encourage the wandering propensities so often remarked of the Shawnees.

In 1669 we find La Salle who was at that time among the Iroquois at the head of Lake Ontario, projecting a voyage of discovery down the Ohio, acknowledging the welcome present from the Iroquois of a Shawanee prisoner, who told him that the Ohio could be reached in six weeks, and that he would guide him to it. This would indicate that the Shawnees or a portion of them, at that date, were familiar with the Ohio country and probably residenis of it

Marquette, who was at La Pointe on Lake Superior in 1670, writes that the Illinois have given him information of a nation called * Chaouanous" living thirty days' journey to the southeast of their country.

In the Jesuit relations of 1671-712, the name of " Chaouanong " appears as another name for * Ontouagannha," which is said in the relations of 1661-62 to mean, "where they do not know how to speak," but their location is not given. De l'Isles map of 1700, however, places the " Ontouagannha" on the headwaters of the Santee and the Great Pedee Rivers in South Carolina, and the same location is marked on Senex's map of ten years later as occupied by the villages of " Chaouanous."

In 1672, Father Marquette in passing down the Mississippi River remarks upon reaching the mouth of the Ohio, that * This river comes from the country on the east inhabited by the people called Chaouanons, in such numbers that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one district, and fifteen in another lying quite near each other; they are by no means war-like, and are the people the Iroquois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon them."

In 1680, as related by Father Membre in his account of the adventures of La Salle's party at Fort Crevecoeur, the "Illinois" who were allies of the * Chaouanous," were warned by one of the latter tribe who was returning home from a trip to the " Illinois" country, but turned back to advise them of the discovery of an Iroquois army who had already entered their territory. During this same year a "Chaouenou" chief who had 150 warriors and lived on a great river emptying into the Ohio, sent to La Salle to form an alliance.

On the map accompanying Marquette's journal published in 1681. the * Chaouanous" are placed on the Ohio River near the Mississippi, while on his original manuscript map--a fac-simile of which will be found in French's Historical Collections of Louisiana - they are located in a blank, unexplored region, a long distance to the east of the Mississippi. probably meant to be m the neigh

In 1682, M. de La Salle, after exploring the Mississippi River to the gulf, formally took possession of the country from the mouth of the river to the Ohio, on the eastern side with the consent of the * Chaouanous," " Chichachas" and her people dwelling therein. » At Bee 502 of the third volume of Margry it is recorded that "Joutel, the companion of La Salle, in his last voyage says, in speaking of the Shawanoes in Illinois: They have been there only since they were drawn thither by M. de La Salle; formerly they lived on the borders of Virginia and the English colonies.

Father Gravier led an expedition down the Mississippi to its mouth in the year 1700. He speaks of the Ohio River as having three branches; one coming from the northeast called the St. Joseph or Ouabachie; the second from the country of the Iroquois called the Ohio; the third on which the * Chaouanoua " live, comes from the south southwest. This latter was evidently the Tennessee.

On De i'Isle? map of 1700 previously alluded to, the * Outonigauha" are placed oa the head-waters of the great rivers of South Carolina, and the " Chiononons" on the Tennessee River near its mouth. It appears however, from the report of an investigating committee of the Pennsylvania Assembly, made in 1755, ^ that at least a portion of this band of the Shawnees or ^Outonigauha" living in South Carolina, who had been made uneasy by their neighbors, eame with about sixty families to Conestoga about the year 1698, by leave of the Susquehanna Indians who then lived there. A few of the band had about four years previously, at the soilcitation of the * Minsis" been allowed to settle on the Delaware River among the latter. Other straggling parties continued from time to time for a number of years, to join their brethren in Pennsylvania, until they finally became among the most numerous and powerful tribes in the States.

In 1700, William Penn visited the chiefs of the band at Conestoga, and in the same year the Council of Maryland resolved, * that the friendship of the Susquehannock and Shawnee Indians be secured by making a treaty with them, they seeming to be of considerable moment and not to be slighted."

The map of North Ámerica by John Senex in 1710, indicates villages of ^ Ohaouanous" on the head-waters of South Carolina, but apparently places the main body along the upper waters of Tennessee River, a short distance west of the Appalachian Mouutains. This would make them very close neighbors of the Cherokees and probably places them too high up the. river. Ten years later (1720) a map of the north parts of America, by H. Moll, does not indicate the presence of any * Chaouanous" on the Tennessee River, but shows their former territory to be occupied by the "Charakeys." This corresponds with the statement in Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, page 45, that M. Charleville, a French trader near New Orleans, came among the Shawnees, then (1714) inhabiting the country upon the Cumberland River and traded with them, and that about this period the Cherokees and Chickasaws expelled them from their numerous villages upon the lower Cumberland. On this map of Moll's, is found at the mouth of the Cumberland (there denominated the Sault) River, the designalion of "Savannah Old Settlement," indicating the probable abandonment at least several years previously of the last Shawnee village in the Cumberland and Tennessee Valleys, in their gradual withdrawal to the north side of the Ohio River. As late as 1764, however, according to Ramsey. a straggling band of them moved from Green River in Kentucky, where they had been residing (though as I surmise, only temporarily), to the Wabash country.

It seems also. that at some period anterior to 1740, a band of ** Chaouan ous," wanderers in all likelihood from the Cumberland and Tennessee country, had lived for a time within two leagues from the fort at Mobile. Ala.. for in that

Another band, probably an offshoot from those who had wandered to South Carolina, found a home at the place now known as Oldtown, Alleghany County. Md.. a few miles below the Cumberland, on the Potomac River, and, in 1738, we find by reference to Volume I, page 63 of the Virginia State Papers, that "the king of the Shawanese living at Alleghany sends friendly messages to Gov. Gooch * * * desires peace," etc. This is likely the same band who, in 1701, concluded a treaty with William Penn at Philadelphia, and is referred to in the preamble to the treaty, as inhabiting in and about the northern parts of the River Potomac. The nucleus for the Shawnee village which long occupied the neighborhood of Winchester, Va., is likely traceable to this band.

But I have already far exceeded the proper limits of such an article, and am yet more than a century behind in my story. I can give but the merest out- Jine of their subsequent history. I shall be unable to consider and discuss the probabilities of their identity wtih the "Savannah" Indians and their former residence on the Savannah River in Georgia; the story of their chief, Black- Hoof, relative to their home on the Suwanee River in Florida; their asserted consanguinity with the Sacs and Foxes, or any other of the numerous suggestions and theories concerning their origin and primal abode.

Between the date of the ejection of the western portion of the Shawnees from the valleys of the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers, and the middle of the eighteenth century, their appearance in history is rare. They were doubtless scattered in several bands along the Ohio River and in the interior of what is nowthe States of Ohio and Indiana. The oldest map on which I have noticed the location of the Shawnees within the limits of Ohio, is that of Emanuel Bowen, published in London in 1752, which places a " village d'Chouanon" on the north side of the Ohio River about midway between the mouths of the Kanawha and Scioto.

That branch of the tribe living in Pennsylvania had in the meantime become decidedly the most numerous and important portion of the Shawnee people.

Their history is a part of that of the State in which they lived, and need not be here recited. It is sufficient to state the fact that owing to the aggressiveness and encroachments of the increasing white population, they were grad ually crowded from their lands and homes until about the year 1750, when they began their migrations to the west of the Ohio River, and within a few years had united with their western brethren and were quite numerous in the Muskingum and Scioto Valleys. They sided actively with the French in the war of 1755; aided materially in the defeat of Braddock and were a terror to the border settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In 1756, an expedition under Maj. Lewis, against their upper town on the Ohio River. three miles above the mouth of the Kanawha, was a failure. In 1764, Col. Boquet/s expedition to the Muskingum resulted in securing temporary peace with them. In 1771. Col. McDonald destroyed their town of Wappatomica, a few miles above Zanesville.

In the same year they received a severe blow in the defeat at Point Pleasant. In 1779, Col Bowman's expedition destroyed the Shawnee village of Chillicothe on the Little Miami River, three miles north of Xenia.

In 1780, Gen. George Rogers Clark burnt the Piqua town on Mad River, the centennial anniversary of which is responsible for this lengthy disquisition. In 1782. Gen. Clark repeated his expedition and destroyed the Upper and Lower Piqua towns on the Great Miami within the present limits of Miami County. In 1786. Col Logan destroved the Mack-a-cheek towns in Logan

In 1791, they glutted their vengeance at the cruel defeat of St. Clair, and, in 1794, were among those who were made to feel the power of the Federal troops at Fallen Timbers, under Gen. Wayne, which brought the peace of 1795.

In the meantime, the Shawnees had been parties to a treaty of peace with the United States in 1786, at the mouth of the Great Miami, but it failed of its objeet.

As the result of Wayne's victory, came the treaty of Greenville in 1795, partieipated in by the Shawnees and eleven other tribes, whereby all the territory south and east of a line beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River; thence up the same to the portage leading to the Tuscarawas River; down the Tuscarawas to the crossing above Fort Laurens; thence westerly to Lorain's store on the Great Miami; thence to Fort Recovery (the place of St. Clair's defeat), and thence southwesterly to the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River, was ceded to the United States. This tract comprised about two-thirds of the area of Ohio and a portion of Indiana.

July 4, 1805, the Shawnees were again parties to a treaty wherein was ceded to the United States a large tract of country lying north and west of the Greenville treaty line, and east of a north-and-south line 120 miles west of the Pennsylvania boundary.

By treaty of November 25, 1808, in conjunction with other tribes, they ceded the right of way for two roads; one running from Fort Meigs, on the Maumee, to the Western Reserve, and the other from Fremont, south to the Greenville treaty line.

Prior to the war of 1812, the Shawnees had become hostile to the United States. The great Tecumseh and his scheming brother, the Prophet, with their allies, were defeated by Harrison at Tippecanoe in 1811, and the Indian alliance was finally broken and dissolved, by the death, in 1813, of Tecumaeh, at the battle of the Thames.

By the treaty of 1817, the Wyandots, Pottawatomies and other tribes made a cession to the United States (in which the Shawnees concurred) of almost the entire Indian territory within the present limits of Ohio.

Out of this cession the United States in turn granted them sundry small reservations upon which to live. Among these reservations there were for the Shawnees a tract ten miles square, with Wapakoneta as the center; a tract adjoining the above of twenty-five square miles on Hog Creek, as well as a tract of forty-eight square miles surrounding Lewistown for the mixed Senecas and Shawnees. The treaty of 1818 added twenty square miles to the reserve at Wapakoneta, and fourteen square miles to the one at Lewistown.

By the treaty of July 20, 1831, the Lewistown Reserve was ceded to the United States and those at Wapakoneta and Hog Creek were ceded on the 8th of the succeeding month, by which transaction the last vestige of Shawnee right or claims to lands in Ohio became extinguished, and they agreed to move west of the Mississippi River.

With this end in view a tract of 60,000 acres of land was granted to the Lewistown band of mixed Senecas and Shawnees, which was subsequently selected in the northeast corner of Indian Territory, to which they removed, and where, with some subsequent modifications of boundaries, they now reside.

It is necessary here to state that a band of Shawnees some years prior to 1793, becoming dissatisfied with the encroachments of the white settlers, removed west of the Mississippi River, and in that year were, in connection with certain Delawares who accompanied them, granted a tract of land by Baron de Carondelet, the French Governor. The Delawares having in 1815 abandoned this region, the Shawnees, in 1825, ceded the land to the United States and accepted in lieu thereof for the accommodation of themselves and such of their brethren as should remove from Ohio, a tract in the eastern part of the present State of Kansas, 100x25 miles in extent, and removed thereto.

To this reservation the Wapakoneta and Hog Creék band of Shawnees, after the oy of 1831, removed, and the principal part of the tribe became again reunited.

By the treaty of 1854, the Kansas Shawnees ceded to the United States all of their reservation but 200,000 acres, within which, allotments of land in severalty were made to the individuals of the tribe, who from time to time with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior sold the same, and under the provisions of an agreement entered into in 1869 with the Cherokees, they removed to the country of the latter and merged their tribal existence with them.

A number of the Kansas Shawnees who, just prior to and during the late rebellion, wandered off to Texas and Mexico, returned after the war and were provided with a home in the Indian Territory alongside of the Pottawatomies, and are known as " Absentee Shawnees." These, together with those confederated with the Senecas in the northeastern part of Indian Territory, are all of the once numerous and powerful * Massawomekes" now left to maintain the tribal name of "Shawnee." C. C. Royce.

Extinction Of The Indian Title

As closely allied to the foregoing article, the transfer of the lands of the Indian to his civilized successor, the white man, calls attention.

The treaty of Fort McIntosh January 21, 1785, was conducted by Gen. George Rogers Clark, Riehard Butler and Arthur Lee, Commissioners for the United States. The tribes represented were the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas and Chippewas, these inhabiting the extreme northern portions of the State west of the Cuyahoga River. The boundaries of the lands relinquished by this treaty, are variously stated by writers. From Monette's * History of the Mississippi Valley," it is learned that the line began "at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, thence up the east bank of said river, to its lake source; thence across to the source of the Tuscarawas, and down that stream to its junction with Wolhonding Creek (near the town of Coshocton), thence in a direct line south of west, to the mouth of Mad River, thence up the Great Miami River to the Portage across to the St. Mary's, or main branch of the Maumee, thence with said river to Lake Erie, and along its south shore to the place of beginning." If this be correct, the line from Coshocton to the mouth of Mad River would enter Clark County at about the same point on its eastern boundary that the National road does, and would leave the county at another point on the southern boundary, near the southeast corner of Section 5, Town 3, Range 8, which is also a county corner. The other description of these boundaries is the same except the line above mentioned, which runs directly from Coshocton to" Loramie's," an old trading-post and military station in the northwest part of Shelby County, this line would pass far north of Clark County. It matters little, except for the sake of truthful details, whether all the lands of this county was ceded to the United States by the treaty of Fort McIntosh or not, for on the 31st day of January of the next year, 1786, the treaty of the Great Miami was concluded with the chiefs, warriors and head men of the Shawnees. The United States Government was represented by Gen. George Rogers Clark. Col. Richard Butler and Samuel H. Parsons. The conference was held at the mouth of the Great Miami River.

By this treaty the General Government acquired all the lands in Ohio, east of the Great Miami, and south of a line running west from the confluence of Mad River and the Great Miami (Dayton).

As is the case to-day, these treaties did not prove final with the Indians, until they had been soundly threshed by Gen. Wayne in 1793 and 1794. This again brought them to proper terms, and, on the 3d day of August, 1 (95, Gen. Anthony Wayne, as Commissioner for the United States, concluded a treaty at Fort Greenville in Darke County.

This was an important epoch in the history of the Indian wars upon the Ohio region, and closes the long series of hostilities which had been kept up against the Western frontier, with but few interruptions, since the beginning of the French war in the year 1754.

Original Land Surveys

In October, 1778, John Cleves Symmes, in behalf of himself and his associates, contracted with the * Board of the Treasury" for 1,000,000 acres of land lying on the Ohio River, and between the Great and Little Miami Rivers, on the east and west, and to extend far enough north to include the above quantity of land; but Symmes failed to pay for this amount, and another agreement was made, whereby he became possessor of only about one-fourth partof the original territory, while the remainder reverted to the Government, and in due time was surveyed into townships and sections, and sold to whoever desired to possess it. The greater portion of what is now Clark County, was a part of the original iract bargained for by Symmes, and which went back to the Government in the year 1794. In 1789, Col. Israel Ludlow, a surveyor and part owner of the tract of land where Cincinnati now stands, laid cut the first plat of that city. In 1795, Ludlow laid out the city of Dayton, in which he was also an interested partner. During the period from 1795 to 1803 or 1804, Col. Ludlow appears to have been engaged principally in land surveying for the General Government and for various private land companies and individuals. The records of the United States Land Office show that the public lands of this county were surveyed by Israel Ludlow in 1802, and by Stephen and Maxfield Ludlow in 1805. The system adopted in surveying these lands, was the same as that followed by Symmes, in the laying off of the "Symmes Purchase" proper, and is unlike the Government system, used both then and now is this: The ranges in the Government system are rows of townships numbered from right to left, or from left to right, according as they are on the right or left of a primary line, called the " Principal Meridian," while in the "Symmes Purchase" the ranges are numbered from south to north, and the townships are numbered from west to east. Each range begins at the Great Miami River and extends eastward, and the first town on the west end of a range is No. 1, so that the same numbers do not stand over one another from north to south.

Each whole township is divided into thirty-six sections, commencing at the southeast corner of each township, the first section is No. 1, the next north is 2 and so on; No. 7 is next west of No. 1, and is the beginning of the next tier of sections, ete.

Israel Ludlow located the range, township, and each alternate section line before, or during the year 1802. In running the exterior lines of a township, a stake was planted every two miles; these were called "block corners," because the inclosed quantity contained a "block" of four square miles or sections. After the death of Israel Ludlow, which occurred in 1804, Stephen and Maxfield Ludlow completed the surveys in 1805, by running the remaining section lines half way between each block line mentioned above. It has beeu the experience of every surveyor since then, that the distances and quantities generaliy "overrun" the specified amounts called for by Ludlow's notes.

A part of the lands in this county were what was known as " Virginia Mil: fare Land- and were never iveded ty any system of surveys. any pers 1 holding a warrant for a given number of acres selected the quantity named in the warrant, in any place he desired and with no regard to the points of the compass, length, breadth, "or any other creature," so long as the lands did not encroach upon lands selected by others, and even that limit was often overstepped.

The dividing line between the Virginia Military Lands and the Symmes Purchase, or Congress Lands, is known as *Ludlow's Line;" this line begins at the head-waters of the Little Miami, in this county, and runs north, 20° west, to the head-waters of the Scioto, crossing the head-waters of the Great Miami, near Belle Center, in Logan County. A part of this line is opened and used as a public road, and is called the Ludlow road.

The " Roberts Line" was a line run by one Roberts, and while it was in a general way intended for a boundary between the same tracts of land, an agreement, or compromise between the United States Government and the State of Virginia was made, by which the line was expunged, and the Ludlow line established.

The surveyed townships are not identical with the civil townships; for instance, the civil township of Springfield is composed of thirty-six sections (one entire township), known as " Town 5, Range 9," and fourteen whole and three fractional sections in Town 4, Range 9.

* Pre-emption" lots are small parcels of land scattered here and there through the entire tract known as the Symmes Purchase. The history of these lots seem to be this: During the time the surveyors were running out the public lands, if any member of the party, for himself or his principal, desired to select and secure a choice lot of land, he did so, and the lines and corners were immediately established by the surveyors in the field, and the "field notes" of these special surveys were incorporated with the notes of the general survey, thus enabling the would-be owner to locate and describe his chosen tract at the Government Land Office. Nearly all of the old pre-emption lines and corners have disappeared, and are known only to the professional surveyor, who prizes them as monuments and reference data.

Col. Thomas Kizer, the veteran surveyor, has in his possession a compass made by Dean of Philadelphia; this instrument was owned and used by his father, David Kizer, who obtained it from John Dougherty about 1813; Dougherty got it from Jonathan Donnel. This relic is marked: I. Ludlow, 1791; Henry Donnel, 1794; J. Donnel, 1796; John Dougherty, 1799; these marks are rudely scratched upon the cover of the instrument, and bear every evidence of being genuine; there is no doubt but that this old compass was used in making the first surveys in this county, or that it is the identical instrument used by John Dougherty, in laying off Demint's first plat of Springfield, and by Jonathan Donnel on the survey of " New Boston."

Extent And Boundary

The county is twenty-nine miles long, from east to west, and about seventeen miles broad, from north to south, and contains 412 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Champaign County, east by Madison, south by Madison and Green, and west by Montgomery and Miami. The northern and western boundary lines are straight regular lines coinciding with the township and section lines of the original survey; the eastern boundary is a straight line bearing several degrees east of north, while the southern boundary is broken by several offsets, and one or two diagonal lines. M

On the 20th of February, 1805, the Legislature passed an act establishing the county of Champaign, by the third section of which act "the temporary seat of justice" was fixed "at the town of Springfield, at the house of George Fithen, until the permanent seat of justice be fixed by law." Thus was the little log town clothed with the dignity of a county seat, and hopes and aspirations kindled, which were not to be relinquished without an effort to preserve them. Urbana was laid out as a town in 1805, and, through the efforts of influential men, who were interested in the new "plat," the county seat was permanently removed there. But Springfield had tasted the sweets of publie honor and patronage ; besides the near town of Urbana was a rival, as a center of population and settlement, and, during the war of 1812, it was a Government military post; so. as soon as there was a sufficient number of people who naturally came to Springfield to "mill and to meeting," the subject of a new county began to be agitated, the result of which was that on Saturday, December 24, 1814, Mr. Mc- Beth, of the House of Representatives, presented petitions from the inhabitants of Champaign, Madison, Miami and Green Counties, praying for a new county to be set off from those counties, agreeable to the boundaries specified in the petitions.

Mr. Newel presented remonstrances from inhabitants of Champaign, which petitions and remonstrances were read and referred to a committee, with leave to report a bill or otherwise: "Ordered, That Mr. Davidson acquaint the Senate therewith."

"Monday, December 26, Mr. Huston presented at the Clerk's desk remon strances from the inhabitants of Greene County, which were referred to the same committee, to whom were referred the said petitions, etc." Having fairly introduced the subject, and escorted it over the threshold of the House of Representatives, it will not be necessary to follow it through all the verbiage of the journals of the Senate and House, for the three years which followed its introduction.

^ Saturday, January 28, 1815, on motion the said bill do now pass, whereupon, on motion, ordered that the further consideration of said motion be postponed till Monday next."

But the bil) was not called up again this session, warranting the presumption that its friends found themselves too weak to secure its passage, and wisely preferring not to have the precedent of an unfavorable vote.

December 28, 1815. Mr. Bell moved the order of the day, whereupon the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and, as such, amended the bill by striking out the first section and the enacting clause. Resolved, that this House agree to the report of the committee of the whole. The question being taken, it was decided in the affirmative - the bill was therefore lost."

The next appearance of the subject is in the journal of the Senate, under the date of Wednesday, December 16, 1816, when it came up under the head of unfinished business of the last session, ete.

Passing over several pages of matter, which record the "ups and downs" of the bill, the final entries are transcribed from the Senate journal.

Saturday, December 13, 1817, *the Senate went into committee of the whole" * * * * * "Senate took up the amendments reported by the committee of the whole, to the bill to erect the county of Clark, which were agreed to." "Ordered that the bill as amended be engrossed, and read a third time on Monday next."

Tuesday, December 23, 1817, ^the Senate received a message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Hawkins:" Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives have passed the bill entitled an aet to erect the county of Clark."

Thursday, December 25, 1817, the bill was signed by the Speakers of both branches of the Legislature, as being duly enrolled; My. Lucas from the joint committee of enrollment deposited it with the Secretary of State, and took his receipt therefor.

And so the long fight was ended. Ohio had gleaned another wisp for the sheaf on her escutcheon, and had added one more dart to its bundle of arrows. Asa "Christmas gift" she had granted the right of local representation and self-government to the plucky pioneers of " Little Clark," and made them a community by themselves with a/*local habitation and a name," the retrospect of which confirms even the brightest visions of those who struggled for this conclusion.

The creation of Clark County was the most bitterly contested of any of the early counties of Ohio. The nominal objection urged was that the territory proposed did not fill the constitutional requirements of 400 square miles. The real trouble seems to have been personal dislike and jealousy, between the leading citizens of the principal settlements in Green and the proposed county of Clark. It is unfortunate that the names of the principal actors in the controversy cannot be learned from the journals of the Legislature of that day, for, names excepted, the records furnish, to an active mind, a detailed history of the long struggle.

Perhaps more Governors of Ohio participated, in one way or another, in the passage of this bill than in that erecting any other county in the State; they were Thomas Kirker, Othniel Looker, Thomas Worthington. Jeremiah Morrow, Dunean McArthur, Robert Lucas and Joseph Vance. The passage of the bill and its excellent management throughout the unequal contest was more directly attributable to Daniel McKinnon, Senator from Champaign County, and one of the first Associate Judges of Clark County; Joseph Tatman also did good work, as a Representative, and was made one of the first Associate Judges. At the time of its erection, the taxable acreage of the county was 229,624 acres, then valued at $528,644, or an average price of less than $2 per acre.

* When the news of the passage of the bill reached Springfield, the citizens assembled at the tavern kept by my father (Cooper Ludlow), on the northwest corner of Main and Factory streets, and celebrated the occasion by the burning of tar barrels in the street, and a free use of apple toddy and the other accompaniments belonging to a great jollification of that day."*

Of the authors of the petition, or those who signed it, or any of the details, there is no known evidence, except that of hearsay. At this late day it would be interesting to know who first suggested the name of Clark, who circulated the petition, and some of the incidents concerning its rise and progress at home, as well as in the Legislature.

Physical Features

Mad River enters the county a little distance west of the middle of its northern boundary line, and, flowing in a southerly and southwesterly course, leaves it at a point near the southwestern corner. The principal tributaries to Mad River in this county are Logonda or Buck Creek, Chapman's Creek, Don-

The Little Miami River rises in the southeast part of the county, and, flowing in a southwestern direction, leaves the county near the village of Clifton, at about the middle of the southern boundary. North Fork and Lisbon Fork are prineipal branches of the Little Miami; there are many other streams of less magnitude, which flow into one or the other of these principal rivers.

Taking all these water-courses into consideration, the county is abundantly supplied with water for agricultural and industrial purposes, besides the ample drainage afforded.

" The valley of Mad River is the most marked topographical feature of the county. Rising in the island of Huron Shale (black slate) just east of Bellefontaine, its source has an altitude of 1,438 feet above the tide water, which is as great as that of any other point in the State. The stream then passes over the edge of the Corniferous limestone, over a considerable outcrop of Helderberg limestone, in Champaign County, and finds its way to Clark County over a flat tract of country which is underlain by the Niagara limestone, but at such depth that it is nowhere exposed in the bed of the stream. Swampy borders of considerable extent are found along its course in Champaign and the northern part of Clark Counties, which help to bestow upon the stream its comparatively permanent character. These borders, locally called 'cat-head prairies,' consist largely of vegetable accumulations, and are peculiarly retentive of moisture. Ditches draw the water but for a very short distance on either side, and therefore it is almost impossible to drain these tracts.

" The tributaries of Mad River share in the peculiarities that it possesses, in the districts through which they flow. Those that enter the river near Springfield have wrought out picturesque and beautiful valleys in the Cliff limestone, as, for instance, Buck Creek and Mill Creek, which crosses the Dayton Pike two miles below the city. The configuration of the valley at the junction of Mill Creek and Mad River indicates a long-continued history, in which the streams have occupied very different geographical relations from those now to be observed. A solitary remnant of their denuding action is found in a little island of Cliff rock, of three-fourths of an acre in area, that rises thirty feet above the general level in the angle between the two streams.

" Almost all the streams of the county, great aud small have their springs and earlier courses in drift deposits. They flow for awhile. many of them, indeed, through their whole extent, in broad and very shallow valleys. that they have wrought in the surface accumulations of clay and gravel. In such cases, the width of the valleys is greatly disproportioned to their depth. On the eastern side of the county, the descent of a few feet - not more than twenty-five feet below the general level - -brings us to a broad, flat plain, one-half a mile in width, perhaps. A stream of insignificant proportions meanders through the valley, but seems lost in the expanse. Indeed, the single-spanned bridge in the midst of a level tract is often our only intimation that we are crossing a valley. The several forks of the Little Miami in Green and Madison Townships furnish good examples of this sort. It may be noted, in passing, that these broad and shallow valleys constitute some of the finest agricultural districts of the county.

" The present topography of the county is to be mainly attributed to erosive agencies, which are still in progress. All that is wanting to complete the horizontal plain of rock which originally filled the area of the county has been carried away by running water. The surface of the county has been worn and chiseled by these ageneies to a degree quite bevond a ready recognition. for these channels have been silted up by the drift deposits so as to be greatly reduced in dimensions, or even wholly concealed from view. unless some accidental section exposes them. The present surface of the county is irregular, through a considerable portion of it, the gravels and clays having been left in hills and hollows: but it is certain that the rocky floor has a far more uneven surface. Re

" The lowest land in the county is found in the valley of Mad River, in the southwestern corner of Mad River Township. It is about 325 feet above low water mark of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. From this lowest level, taken as & floor, the whole county is built up to the extent of 100 feet, with the uppermost beds of the Blue Limestone or Cincinnati Group. The average thickness of the Clinton limestone, the next story of the county, does not exceed twentyfive feet, and the heaviest single section of the Niagara group gives seventy-five feet in addition to these measurements. The deposits of the drift formation are built up in many instances from 75 feet to 100 feet above the rocky floor.

"The highest land of the county, then, is from 600 to 625 feet above low water mark at Cincinnati, or from 1,025 feet to 1,050 feet above tide water. Some isolated points may exceed even this elevation by a few feet. The summits of Pleasant Township have probably as great an elevation as any land in the county.

"The sand and gravel are left over the surface of the country in picturesque knolls and ridges, which add greatly to its natural beauty, and which, in the advantages they offer for building sites and road materials, form no mean element in its desirability for human habitation. These knolls and ridges are not the remnants of more extensive beds that covered the whole face of the country originally, as might be thought at the first inspection, but they were deposited where we find them, and in the same form that they now possess. This is clearly proved by the lines of deposition that their sections furnish. The ridges often inclose basin-shaped depressions of small extent, which can be accounted for in no other way than as the results of the original deposition of the surrounding masses. These depressions are particularly noticeable in the northeastern corner of the county, near Catawba."

One prominent branch of business in this county springs from the vast amount of limestone existing here, large quantities of which are yearly converted into dressed building-stone, rough stone, lime, etc., which are thus spoken of in the " Geological Survey of Ohio:"

* We come next to what has been denominated the Springfield stone, viz.: the building-stone courses which form so constant an element in the Niagara rocks of Ohio at this horizon. It is separated from the West Union limestone by a distinct boundary. As this portion of the series is so well developed and exhibited in the Springfield quarries, it seems appropriate to designate it as the Springfield limestone, and this name has accordingly been attached to this division in all portions of Southwestern Ohio in which it is shown. It is a prominent member of the Highland County series, as will be seen in the report of the geology of that county, subserving there the same purpose ag a building-stone that it does here.

"The Springtield limestone is a magnesian carbonate, containing generally about 50 per cent of carbonate of lime, and 40 per cent of carbonate of magnesia. Some of the remaining substances - a small percentage of silica, and also of.alumina - stand in the way of its being burned into an approved lime. There is, however, no uniformity in its composition.

"The prevailing color of this rock in Clark County is a light drab, though several blue courses occur. To the southward, the rock is mainly blue. The desir ability of the light-colored stone for fine work is sometimes lessened by faint reddish streaks through its substance.

* The thickness of this division is never more than twenty feet, and seldom exceeds fifteen feet in this portion of the State. At Holeomb's, it is thirteen

"Beginning in the Springfield quarries at the bottom of the series, we find several heavy courses, from ten to eighteen inches thick, overlying the West Union cliff. These lowest courses are blue in color, and, despite their massive appearance, are generally treacherous as building-stones. Where exposed to the weather, they lose, in a few years, their dressed surfaces, their seams continually widen, and, in a word, they show themselves to be undergoing a state of certain, though slow, disintegration.

* The blue courses generally, even when found above the lowest beds, show the same tendency, and should at least be carefully tested before being used in structures where they can be attacked by atmospheric agencies. The drab courses are almost all durable building-stones in all ordinary situations. Making up as they do the bulk of this division, they furnish an invaluable supply of building-stone to Springfield and the adjacent country.

" The character of the Springfield lime deserves some notice. It is the standard of excellence as a finishing lime in the Cincinnati market and for all Southwestern Ohio. It is carried in considerable quantity into Kentucky, and finds its way even to New Orleans. The qualities of the lime that especially recommend it. are its mildness, its whiteness and its strength. ;

" The quantity of lime annually produced in Springfield and its immediate vicinity is very considerable. It is not less than 500,000 bushels, and during some years it has largely exceeded this amount. The parties who deal in Springtield stone are the lime-burners also - the two branches of business being necessarily connected, as will be understood from the relations that the building-rock and limestone bear to each other."

The timber of the original forests consisted of beech, maple (sugar), oak, hickory, poplar, walnut, and some ash. Of course, this was not the exact list for every township, but in a general way these were the principal varieties. In some localities, the beech prevailed; in others, the oak was the most common. There were no pines, hemlocks or chestnuts.

On the tract where Fern Cliff Cemetery is now located are the remnants of what appears to have been a botanical garden, wherein were planted a great variety of such hérbs and roots as the Indians used as remedies, or for seasoning their nondescript messes of meats and vegetables. It is not known to have been especially planted, but the great number of different botanical specimens on so small an area of ground, together with the well-known medicinal character of some of them, makes this explanation plausible, at least. |

The soil of nearly every part of the county is more or less impregnated with lime; even the clays seem to be commingled with a lime " drift." This natural condition of the soil makes wheat-raising a prominent feature. This crop, therefore, is the leading one, as will be seen by the statistical table in another part of this volume. The rich bottom lands of the valleys are among the best corn lands in the country, and a large acreage of this crop is regularly planted. Of course the prospective market value of any crop regulates, to a great degree, the extent of its development, and'it may not be surprising that the corn product sometimes exceeds all others in value here. Stock-raising is one of the special interests in which many of the farmers of this county have been long and profitably engaged; in fact, the breeding of fine stock was begun here at a date as early as at any other place in this part of the State. The table of crop statistics will give some idea of the variety and amounts of the farm products of the county:

Miscellaneous Statistics For The Year Ending June 1, 1880 Mounds, Relics, Etc

There are several mounds and other pre-historic works within the limits of this county. "The greatest is the mound at Enon. Some years ago, a party of young men, impelled by curiosity, dug a hole down through the center of the mound. One of them says: * We found top soil all the way for thirty feet, when we came to a cave of curious construction; it was the shape of a bake-oven, and high enough for a man to stand upright in the center. It tapered down on the sides. On one side there was a door, that had evidently led from a ground entrance into the cave. In the middle of the cave was a pile of dirt and stone resembling an altar; on this were bones, charcoal and some pieces of decayed wood, and one piece of partly charred wood in a good state of preservation. This wood was preserved, but the bones would not stand moving. After the party had satisfied their curiosity, they cut their names and the date on the altar, filled up the excavation and left." (See Mad River Township.) On the Bechtle property, in the northwest part of the city of Springfield, and near the bridge across Buck Creek, is a mound which has never been opened. It is about twenty feet high and seventy-five or one hundred feet across the base.

In what is now the railroad yard, just east of Limestone street, in Springfield, was a mound of considerable size. This was removed when the road was graded, many years since. Near this was a much smaller one, which was not known to be a mound until the process of leveling revealed its character. Both these contained bones and the usual specimens of charcoal, etc.

On the farm of Edward Newlove, in the western part of the township of Harmony, is what appears to have been a fortification, and of which neither tradition nor history gives an account. The outer limits of this earthwork inclose nearly four acres, and are in shape an oblong square. It has the appearance of having been planned and constructed in accordance with the rules of civil engineering, having a gateway on the north end, and one nearly opposite, on the south end. Half a mile north of this fort is a huge mound, the base of which covers about one acre. From this mound many bones have been exhumed, of a race of beings differing greatly from the present, and having no similarity to the red man. A mile west of the fort above mentioned, on the farm of William Allen, is an ancient burying-ground of an extinct race. The bones taken from this place are much larger than those of Americans, and, in many respects, give evidence of having belonged to a pre-historic people.

On the old Ward farm, about two miles north of Springfield, are three ancient works. Two of these were cones of the usual form, and some twenty or thirty feet high when the country was new, though now much reduced by plowing over them. One of these was opened in 1853, and was found to contain bones, pottery, etc. These mounds were about one thousand feet apart, and on a due north and south line.

Near the residence of Henry Snyder, at Snyder's Station, in Mad River, a large, mound-like burying-ground was found a few years since. This ground was filled with bones, arrow-points, etc. The arrows were of an unusual form, being round at the point. The area was not large, yet the excavations yielded 128 of those points, some of which were in the Ohio collection, exhibited by William Whiteley, Esq., at the Centennial at Philadelphia.

In 1876, at Catawba Station, on the C., C., C. & L R. R., a gravel-pit was opened and an old burying-ground disclosed. This contained a vast quantity of bones.

The residence of Thomas Sharp, Esq., on East Clifton street, Springfield, stands on a knoll which contains bones and other relics of a character generally found in these burial-places.

The Homes And Hearths Of The Pioneers

The cabin or log house was invariably the dwelling of the settler, and was the first thing to see to after the arrival upon the ground. The family frequently camped out, or lodged in the wagon, during the building of the cabin.

Often the settler would precede the moving, and, after having selected his land, would get his house under roof, at least, before the family came, while at other times the family would be left at the cabin of the nearest neighbor until the new structnre was reared.

The building itself was erected by rolling logs, previously selected, one upon the other, and " half-notching " each log at the corners in such a way that it would lay fairly upon the one underneath. The roof was composed of bark, or oftener of clapboards, split from some convenient timber that was straightgrained, or " free-rifted," as it was sometimes called. To keep the roof in place, long, heavy poles were laid upon the courses of clapboards.

The openings for the two doors, the chimney, and one or two little windows, were either cut out with the ax after the cabin was raised, or the logs " butted " off as they were laid in place. The floors were made of puncheons, i. e., split logs, with the upper surfaces hewed. The hewing was sometimes omitted for want of time. The doors were composed of two or three clumsy planks | made as the clapboards and puncheons were, and pinned to a couple of stout ribs which formed part of the hinges. The door-latch was of the same order, and was raised from the outside by a string, which was thrust through a hole in the door. At night, this "latch-string" was pulled in, and the door was thereby locked.

** His latch-string hangs outside the door As it had always done before. In all the States no door stands wider To ask you in to drink our cider." *From an old song book. C

It was common to have two doors, one directly opposite the other, so that a draught or current of air could be obtained, if necessary, to clear the room of smoke, or for ventilation. This arrangement also permitted a horse to be driven through the house when a huge back-log was to be taken in for use in the fireplace. It will not be necessary to go into all the details of the log cabin, such as the chinking and daubing with clay, and the rude notched logs that were set up on an angle as a substitute for stairs or a ladder.

Nearly everything in the house was made on the spot. Furniture of all kinds was improvised, and if the pioneer had been thoughtful enough to provide a few tools, such as a saw and two or three augers, he soon found his household wants as well supplied as could be expected.

The forest furnished roots and barks and herbs for all sorts of ills. "There, ioo, could be found many natural fruits, nuts and vegetables, which contributed not a little to the comfort of the seeker.

Accidents would sometimes happen, resulting in broken bones or dislocations, or the ax would glance and bury itself in the foot or leg of the woodman. Then help must be procured as best it could; but, to offset the disadvantages of the situation, each settler was ever ready to drop his own business and attend to the wants of those in distress, with a degree of promptness not often met with in the whirl of busy life which exists at present.

In those days there was & multitude of little things which required attention that are in no way troublesome to-day - for instance, the fire must never be suffered to go out; to be sure, the flint and tinder-box were at hand, but that sometimes failed, and instances are plenty where long journeys on foot were necessary to procure fire.

The wooden-ware of to-day was represented by troughs, or * dug-outs," or by what are called * gums." These latter were obtained, by a little labor, from the trunks of hollow trees.

The syeamore or buttonwood was frequently found of large size, and with the whole interior portion rotted away, leaving only a thin rind or shell on the outside. To cut off a length from one of these trunks and scrape away the loose fragments of decayed wood was an easy task, when, with the addition of a bottom, sometimes made of a broad sheet of bark, a good substitute for a tub was obtained.

These " gums" were used for bins for storing grain, for vats and tanks, for improving some favorite natural spring of water, and for any purpose which the ingenuity of the pioneer might fit them for, not forgetting the cradle, wherein was rocked some of the future " stalwarts" of ;public and professional life.

Wooden trenchers did service as plates and platters; spoons were frequently carved from the wood of the sugar maple, which was also used for caseknives, being shaved down into a thin, spatula-shaped blade.

The fire-place was a spacious, cavern-like recess in the end of the cabin, and was the source of light and heat to its inner life, as the sun is to that of the outer world. It was wide and ample, often eight feet or more in width by six or sevep feet high, and a yard or so in depth. This structure was composed of the most suitable material to be found convenient - refractory stones, banks of earth, sticks and clay, etc., but most frequently a combination of all these. The chimney, or upper portion, was laid up of small poles or split sticks, and the whole thoroughly .plastered, inside and out, with a heavy coating of clay. The fuel, of course, was wood, and the more of it used the better; the fire-place was large enough to take in great bolts of timber, and save the trouble of chopping it into smaller pieces. The cooking was done " before the fire," it being a matter of doubt sometimes which was the nearest "done," the cook or the cookery, so intense was the heat from the crackling bonfire within the cavernous walls of the fire-place.

At night, the whole interior was lighted by the same blazing log heap, lamps or candles being used as movable lights only. A kind of lamp was sometimes made by immersing a few strands of twisted tow in a gourd full of any kind of melted fat; when cold, it could be earried about without danger of spilling, and was ready for use when wanted. A modification of this was sometimes called a * slut candle."

Every settler owned and used a rifle, the appendages of which were the powder-horn, bullet-pouch, wiping-stick and bullet-molds; powder and lead were bought by the quantity, and each man made his own bullets by filling the molds with melted lead. An iron ladle was part of the outfit of every pioneer, to be used for this purpose. but its absence or loss could be replaced by a gourd filled with clay, out of which a dish-like cavity was scooped; in this cavity was placed the lead. and live coals placed thereon, the lead soon melted and the bullets were run, regardless of the iron ladle. A block of green wood with a hollow in it answered as well as the gourd ladle.

The cooking utensils were few and simple, consisting mainly of one or two iron pots. a bake-kettle with a heavy iron cover, a frying-pan and a skillet, or long-handled spider, to which list was added an iron tea-kettle as soon as one could be procured. The old-fashioned fire "slice" or flat shovel, with its long handle. was a part of the outfit, also a pair of tongs of peculiar fashion, well ealeulated to produce blood blisters upon the hands of the uninitiated.

The evenings and rainy days were improved by meeting some of the many demands for the little odds and ends of every-day life. There were ax-helves, neck-yokes, ox-yokes, and other wooden ware to make; corn to be shelled and pounded, or some chore to be done, that would interfere with the regular work if performed at other times. i .

Iron mongery was beyond the reach of the pioneers. All kinds of hardware - nails, bar-iron, tools, etc. - were scarce and high, besides the services of a blacksmith were not to be had on every corner. If an ax failed or was lost, it might cost a journey of fifty miles to reach some one skilled in Vulean's art who could make it good. The blacksmith was of nearly as much importance as the doctor, and was patronized by a greater number of people. His range of handieraft extended over a wider field than the smith of to-day ventures to occupy. He was gunsmith, farrier, coppersmith, millwright, machinist, and sur geon general to all sorts of broken implements and utensils. His work-shop was the meeting-place of the frontiersmen from every direction, each waiting his turn to be served. as he did at the grist-mull. Sometimes those in waiting were obliged to remain overnight. and the house of the artisan therefore became a sort of a wayside inn. AME

As a consequence. the man of grime was high authority for all that was new in regard to the Indian outbreaks. political news, and gossip generally.

The blacksmith's shop was the scene of many a trial of skill in wrestling. lifting, running. rifle-shooting. ete.. and if there chanced to bea bit of firewater" in the party. tke hard work of every-day life at home was forgotten for the hour. With no desire to laud the evils of a promiscuous use of liquor, it must be borne in mind that the general custom of the people of those days was to drink any kind of spirituous liquors that could be obtained. _It seems, too, that the practice was in a great measure warranted by the situation. The pioneer was constantly engaged in the most arduous varieties of physical labor, and was often placed in positions where nothing short of the highest pitch of human endurance would save him or his friends from suffering or death. Under such circumstances, the exhilarating influences of a "drink" was a Godsend indeed.

Then again, the settlements were isolated from the social establishments of the older parts of the country, and often from each other, so that "society," in anything like the sense which the term conveys to our modern understanding, was out of the question. With that, as with everything else, the settler must deal with himself and improvise a substitute. It is then little wonder that he made the most of his hours of recreation by a more or less limited alliance with King Alcohol.

Every settlement, almost, had its "still," where the various grains were convertrd into whisky, and the apples into cider brandy, or " apple-jack."

One of the first things to require attention was the preparation of a patch of ground, wherein was planted the apple-seeds which had been " brought from home," and a nursery started. In due time, the sprouts were transplanted in the lot where the future orchard was to be. These young shoots were encouraged in their growth by all the means and attention at the command of the pioneer, until the young orchard began to bear fruit. Then the cider-mill, usually a couple of rude rollers, made from short lengths of the trunk of some hardwood tree was erected, and the liquid encouragement for the raisings, elections, huskings and meetings of the next year began to flow. Cider was used as a remedy for all sorts of ills. A kind of "tea" made of strong hard cider, with a pepper pod sliced into it, was a dose to make rheumatism beat a retreat; willow bark and the heart of an ironwood pickled in cider was good for fever and ague. Wild cherry bark and cider was a " warming " tonic, ete. Some of the good old pio neers were opposed to * drunk'ness" produced by whisky, and thought " moderation in all things" should be the motto of every man, yet many of these same men would drink moderately of hard cider so often during the day that when night came they hardly knew whether they were moderate drinkers or otherwise. Hard cider and all that comes of it was as distinctively a feature of the early times of this country as the ax and rifle. During the Presidential eampaign of 1840, it, in eonjunetion with the log cabin, was emblazoned upon the banners of the Whig party as typical of the character of Gen. Harrison. The following is from the " Log Cabin Song Book" of forty years ago:

Come ye who, whatever betide her, To freedom have sworn to be true, Prime up in a mug of hard cider, And drink to old Tippecanoe.+ On tap [ve a pipe of as good, Sir, As man from the cock ever drew ; No poison to thicken your blood. Sir, But liquor as pure as the dew. No foreign potation I puff, Sir. In freedom the apple tree grew.

Home-brewed ale was also used to some extent, and, if properly made, was a good substitute for stronger liquor, being both refreshing and stimulating; but these shadows disappeared when the orchard began to furnish fruit for the substance- - hard cider.

The early settlers procured their subsistence in all sorts of ways, according to the circumstances surrounding them for the time being. Many who possessed means enough to do so purchased the staple articles until the new farm was in a condition to yield a portion of the bread and meat. But the great mass of settlers were men who possessed nothing but energy, courage, health and hope - a combination of "faith" with " works" that would almost defy censure. Corn was planted as soon as possible, and,seems to have been the main dependence as a food-yielding cereal. Potatoes were cultivated with little trouble, and furnished an important item in the list. Wheat was not so generally sown at first, on account of the great difficulty in preparing the ground and securing the crop, while the ordinary list of garden vegetables received such limited attention as time would permit.

Of live-stock, the hog headed the list, as furnishing a greater amount and variety of food than any other animal, and with as little trouble to the owner; as the forest was full of nuts, roots and grubs, the hog took care of himself during the seasons of summer and early autumn; being "at home " there, he sometimes " back-slid" and started after the idols of his fathers, making it difficult to find him when wanted, and much more difficult to catch when found.