A General Description of Ohio

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N0TE.——In compiling this article the writer has drawn from the following sources of information “Topographical and historical Sketch of Ohio,” Whittlesey; “Ohio Archeological and Historical Quarterly,” Vol. 1; “Geography and Geology of Ohio,” Oiton; “History of Ohio,” Ryan; “Ohio, A. Sketch of Industrial Progress,” Short; “Ohio, A Century’s Growth,” Graham; “United States Census, 1880;” “Ohio Statistics, 1887.”

Primitive Races.—Evidences of the existence of man in Ohio previous to the glacial period have been found, and evidences of a civilization in Ohio after the glacial period are abundant. The works of that race of people popularly called “the Mound-builders,” consisting of earthworks, such as mounds, forts, effigies, etc., are said to number more than ten thousand in Ohio, and are more numerous in this State than in any other equal area in the world. The most important of these are the Serpent Mound, in Adams county, which in its convolutions is more than a thousand feet in length; Fort Ancient, in Warren county, length of surrounding embankment about five miles and estimated to contain 628,800 cubic yards of material; Fort Hill, in Highland county, enclosing an area of thirty-five acres; Graded Way, in Pike county; fortifications at Newark, covering over 1000 acres. The largest mound in the State, at Miamisburg, is sixty-eight feet in height and 800 feet in circumference at the base.

In the mounds are found portions of human skeletons, frequently partly consumed by fire, with ornaments of shells, bone, stone, mica and copper.  Along the water-shed in the central part of the State the works are not as numerous as in other parts and indicate that this was neutral ground between two tribes or races. The works in the northern part of the State, which extend eastward along Lake Ontario, by their character indicate a more warlike people than those in the southern part, whose works are largely altars, effigies, pyramids, etc., sacred in character and indicating a more numerous and industrious people.

A marked difference exists in the shape of the skulls found in these mounds.  Those the north are generally low and long, while in the south they are mostly high an short, which furnishes additional evidence that there were two different tribes or races.  The latest conclusion in regard to these Mound-builders is that the northern, or long-headed, conquered the southern, or short-headed, people; that the two intermingled, the result of the amalgamation being the North American Indian.  The Indians, however, have no knowledge of the origin of the mounds and earthworks and no traditions in support of this theory.  The principal Indian tribes of Ohio were the Delawares, Shawanese, Miamis, Wyandots, or Hurons, Ottawas, Senecas and Mingoes.  It has been estimated that their entire population at the beginning of the Revolutionary war was only about 6,000, which was about one Indian to every seven square miles.

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assigned the “Great West” to the English.  In the spring of 1779 George Rogers Clark, in behalf of Virginia, wrested control of the region afterwards known as the Northwest Territory from the English by the defeat and unconditional surrender of Guy.  Hamilton at Fort Vincennes.

By the treaty of 1783 Great Britain relinquished her right and interest in the Northwest Territory, and the United States assumed control, acknowledging the claim made by Virginia to 3,709,848 acres, near the rapids of Ohio, and a similar claim by Connecticut to 3,666,621 acres, near Lake Erie, which became known as the “Western Reserve.”  These claims were admitted as to ownership, but in no way as to jurisdiction.  In 1787 Congress passed the ordinance creating the Northwest Territory, the first commonwealth in the world whose organic law recognized every man as free and equal.  The first permanent settlement made under the ordinance was at Marietta, in 1788, by officers of the Revolutionary army.  Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed by Congress the first Governor of the Northwest Territory.  The early years of the Northwest Territory were harassed by Indian warfare until, in 1794, when Gen. Anthony Wayne, at the “Battle of Fallen Timbers,” defeated them with terrible loss.  The first territorial Legislature was organized in 1797 and chose Wm. Henry Harrison delegate to Congress.  In 1800 Congress divided the Northwest Territory into two governments, the seat of the eastern government being fixed at Chillicothe.  November 29, 1802, a constitution of State government was ratified and signed by the members of a convention authorized by act of Congress.  February 19, 1803, the constitution was approved by Congress and Ohio recognized as a State, the seventeenth in order of admission.  Edward Tiffin was elected the first Governor of Ohio.

The seat of government was at Chillicothe until 1810, in Zanesville till 1812, and again in Chillicothe till 1816, when Columbus was made the permanent capital.

Geographical.—Ohio is bounded on the north by Lake Erie and the State of Michigan, on the east by Pennsylvania and West Virginia, on the south by the Ohio river, which separates it from West Virginia and Kentucky, and on the west by Indiana.  It is situated between 380 27’ and 410 57’ north latitude, and 800 34’ and 800 49’ west longitude, its greatest length from north to south is about 210 miles, and the extreme width from east to west about 225 miles.  The area of Ohio is 40,760 square miles.  In 1886 the number of acres cultivated was 9,705,735; in pasture, 6,180,875; woodland, 4,854,473; lying waste, 604,699.

The Ohio river extends along half of its east front and the whole of the southern boundary, bordering the State for a distance of 436 miles.  The lake shore of the State is 230 miles, giving a total navigable front of 666 miles.  The surface of the State is that of an undulating plateau, with an average elevation of about 200 feet above Lake Erie, which is 565 feet above the sea-level.  The highest elevation, 1550 feet above mean tide, is near Bellefontaine, Logan county, the lowest land at the mouth of the Great Miami, a little less than 440 feet above tide.  The main water-shed extends across the State from its northeastern corner to about the middle of its western boundary, dividing the State into two unequal slopes, of which the northern, much the smaller, drains into Lake Erie, and the southern sends its waters through the Ohio into the Gulf of Mexico.

The northern part of the State gently slopes to Lake Erie; the central part is nearly a level plain, and the southern part uneven and hilly, caused by the excavate power of the streams flowing into the Ohio.  The larger part of the State was originally well covered with timber.

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The streams flowing south into the Ohio are the Muskingum, Scioto, Hocking and Little and Great Miamis.

The Muskingum is formed by the confluence of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding rivers, which rise in the northern part of the State and unite at Coshocton.  From this point it flows in a southeasterly direction, about 110 miles through a beautiful, fertile and populous region to the Ohio at Marietta, where it is about 225 yards in width.  It is navigated by steamboats as far up as Dresden, ninety- five miles from Marietta.

The Scioto is a beautiful river, one of the largest streams which intersect the State.  It rises in Hardin county and flows southeasterly to Columbus.  There it receives its principal affluent, the Olentangy, after which its direction is southerly, till it enters the Ohio at Portsmouth.  The Ohio and Erie canal follows its valley for a distance of ninety miles.  Its tributaries are, besides the Olentangy, or Whetstone river, the Darby, Walnut and Paint creeks.]

The Great Miami river rises in Hardin county, near the head-waters of the Scioto, and runs southwesterly, passing Troy, Dayton and Hamilton.  It is a beautiful and rapid stream, flowing through a highly productive and populous valley in which limestone and hard timber are abundant.

It is about 150 miles in length and empties into the Ohio at the southwestern corner of the State.  The chief rivers of the northern slope are the Maumee, Sandusky, Huron and Cuyahoga, all emptying into Lake Erie, and all hut the first being entirely within the limits of the State.  The Maumee rises in Indiana, but runs for about eighty miles in Ohio, and is navigable as far as Perrysburg, a distance of eighteen miles. The other three rivers have rapid courses and afford a large amount of valuable water-power.

Lakes.—A remarkable feature of Ohio is the almost entire absence of lakes or ponds.  A very few small ones are only found in the northern part of the State.  Lake Erie, which forms the northern boundary of Ohio, next to Ontario, is the lowest in mean elevation of the series of great North American lakes.  It is 290 miles in length and 57 miles in width at the widest part.  There are no islands except in the west end and very few bays.  Its greatest depth is off Long Point, 312 feet.  The shores are principally drift clay or bard pan, upon which the waves are continually encroaching.  At Cleveland, from the first survey in 1796 to 1842, the encroachment was 218 feet along the entire city front.  The coast is low, seldom rising above fifty feet at the water’s edge.

Lake Erie, like the other great American lakes, has a variable surface, rising and falling with the seasons, like great rivers, called the “annual fluctuation,” and a general one, embracing a series of years due to meteorological causes, known as the “secular fluctuation.”

Its lowest known level was in February, 1819, rising more or less each year, until June, 1838, in the extreme to six feet eight inches.  Reducing each year to an average the difference between 1819 and 1838 was five feet two inches, and the average annual rise and fall, obtained by the mean of twelve years, one foot one and one-half inches.

There are several important harbors and ports in Ohio, among which are Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, Port Clinton, Fairport and Ashtabula.  Valuable improvements have been made in some of these harbors at the expense of the general government.  By means of the Welland canal, in Canada, vessels not exceeding 130 feet in measurement of keel, 26 feet beam, and 10 feet draught, can pass to and fro between Lake Erie and the Atlantic Ocean.  The first steamboat was launched upon Lake Erie in 1818.

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Natural Resources.—The southern slopes of the water-shed are very fertile specially adapted for grain, the bottom lands of the rivers growing prolific crop of corn; the northern slopes are superior for grazing and dairy products, particularly  on the “Western Reserve,” long famous for the latter.  The uplands produce large crops of wheat.  Fruit culture is a profitable industry, especially on the shores and islands of the western part of Lake Erie, where grape growing and wine making have assumed large proportions.  Berry culture has been source of much profit in the southern and southeastern parts of the State.  The eastern and southeastern parts of Ohio contain about 12,000 square miles of Coal producing strata.  In most of the coal regions iron ore and fire clay are mined to a greater or less extent and support extensive furnaces and manufactories.  Petroleum and natural gas are abundant and widely distributed.  Other mineral productions are cement rock, gypsum, peat, salt, marl, lime and building stone.  The sandstone quarries are among the best in the United States.

]The Population in Ohio in 1790 was 3,000; in 1800, 45,365; 1810, 230,760; 1820, 581 295; 1830, 937,903; 1840, 1,519,467; 1850, 1,980,329; 1860, 2,339,511; 1870, 2,665,260; 1880, 3,198,062-; of which were male, 1,613,936; female 1,584,126; native, 2,803,119; foreign, 394,943; white, 3,117,920; colored, 79,900; Chinese, 109; Indians, 130.  Nativities of the People.—Of the population in 1880, 2,361,437 were born in Ohio; in Pennsylvania, 138,163; Virginia, 51,647; West Virginia, 12,812; New York, 64,138; Maryland, 20,091; Massachusetts, 10,854; Michigan, 11,403; Indiana, 27,202; Illinois, 10,013; Kentucky, 32,492; New Jersey, 10,487; Connecticut, 003; Vermont, 7,064. Of the foreign population there were born in the German Empire, 192,597; Austria, 1,681; Bohemia, 6,232; British America, 16, 146; England, 41,555; Ireland, 78,927; Scotland, 8,946; Wales, 13,763; France, 60,131; Switzerland, 11,989; Holland, 2,455; Hungary, 1,477; Italy, 1,064; Poland, 2,039; Sweden, 1,186.

Emigration from  Ohio.—Born in Ohio, resident in Indiana, 186,391; in Illinois, 136,884; Iowa, 120,495; Kansas, 93,396; Missouri, 78,938; Michigan, 77,053;  Nebraska, 31,800; West Virginia, 27,535; Pennsylvania, 27,502; Kentucky, 27,115; Wisconsin, 20,512; California, 17,759; Minnesota, 15,560; Colorado, 11,759; New York, 11,599; Texas, 7,949; Oregon, 6,201; Arkansas, 5,254; Tennessee, 5,035.

Population of Cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants (census of 1880): Akron 16,512; Canton, 12,258; Chillicothe, 10,938; Cincinnati, 255,139; Cleveland: 160,146; Columbus, 51,647; Dayton, 38,678; Hamilton, 12,122; Portsmouth, 11,321; Sandusky, 15,838; Springfield, 20,730; Steubenville, 12,093; Toledo, 50,137; Youngstown, 15,435; Zanesville, 18,113.

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Warren, Lebanon.  Washington, Marietta.  Wayne, Wooster.  Williams, Bryan.  Wood, Bowling Green. Wyandot, Upper Sandusky.

Principal Places.—Columbus, capital, site of prominent State institutions, large carriage and other manufactures, important railroad and centre of great coalmining interests.  Cincinnati, largest city in the State, noted for public spirit and public institutions, great commercial and manufacturing centre. Cleveland, second largest city, most important of the lake ports, notable for commerce and manufactures, especially iron and petroleum.  Akron, seat of flour and woollen and railroad interests, Sandusky, largest fish-market in the world, wine-making, lime and lumber interests.  Dayton, manufacturing centre, agricultural implements, paper machinery and cars.  Hamilton, manufacturing city, machinery, steam-engines, paper, etc.  Springfield, seat of largest agricultural implement manufactures in the world, centre of productive wheat-growing region.  Newark, prosperous mining centre and manufacturing city.  Mansfield, centre of agricultural region, agricultural implement and other manufactures.  Chillicothe, first seat of government of Ohio, centre of rich agriculture region, railroad repair-shops.  Bellaire, emporium of farming and mining region, and especially nail and glass manufacturing.  Canton, large agricultural implement, and iron manufactures, centre of rich wheat region.  Xenia, twine and cordage manufactures and gunpowder mart.  Findlay, manufacturing, natural gas and oil interests Lima, petroleum and natural gas interests.  Zanesville, manufacturing and especially fire-clay products, mining centre.  Youngstown, mining and iron manufacturing.  Ashtabula, growing iron and coal-shipping interests.  East Liverpool, centre of great clay goods manufacturing region, next to Trenton, N. J., the greatest in the United States, producing one-third of all the clay goods.  Ironton, centre of mining and a great iron manufacturing region.  Portsmouth, an old manufacturing town.  Steubenville, mining centre, glass, iron and fire-clay manufactures.

Commerce.—T here are four ports of entry in Ohio, Cincinnati, Toledo, Sandusky and Cleveland.  The total imports for the year ending June, 1886, were $2,531,903, and the exports were $1,363,968.  In this aggregate no exports are credited to Cincinnati, the bulk of the amount having been from Toledo, one of the leading lake grain-shipping ports.  The entrances at the three lake ports for the year ending June, 1886, were 834 vessels, of 137,171 tonnage; and the clearances were 945 vessels of 180,027 tonnage.  The number of vessels registered, enrolled and licensed was 257, of 102,416 tonnage.

In 1880, Ohio had 24,529,226 acres, valuation $1,127,497,353, devoted to agriculture.  Of the population 297,495 people were engaged in farming pursuits.  The number of farms was 247,189; the average value of cleared land per acre $47.53; and the value of forest land $41.37.

Staple crops for 1885, U. S. Dept. Agriculture:

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without board, per day, $1.05.  Broom corn, 1,809,349 lbs.; flax, 137,112 bushels seed, 1,951,406 lbs., flax fibre; milk, 15,399,265 gals.; butter, 54,466,355 lbs. cheese, 19,544,406 lbs.; sorghum, 467,772 gals.; honey, 2,113,479 lbs.; eggs 41,599,859 dozen; grapes, 26,649,211 lbs.; wine, 680,620 gals.; sweet potatoes 130,350 bushels; apples, 23,609,037; peaches, 834,962; pears, 144,145; cherries 255,487; plums, 135,709 bushels; wool, 19,702,329 lbs.; number of horses owned 725,814; cattle.  1,637,130; sheep, 4,277,463; hogs, 1,595,373; mules, 24,378.

Railroads.—For the year 1887 total track mileage of railroads reported to the Ohio Commissioner of Railroads was 18,358, of which 9,849 miles are within the State.  The amount of capital stock paid in was $512,344,549, of which $44,642, 612 was owned by 16,389 stockholders resident in Ohio.  Total stock and debt of the entire line was $1,105,625,469, of which the proportion for Ohio was $557, $45,232.  Cost of road and equipment of entire line, $1,007,145,278; proportion for Ohio, $471,763,561.  The entire line had 3,769 locomotives, 130,061 cars, of which 126,205 were freight, 1,597 passenger, and 612 express or baggage cars.  The entire line transported 34,372,926 passengers, at an average cost per passenger of 2.179 cents per mile, and 85,739,801 tons of freight, at an average cost per of .707 cents per mile.  The net earnings of the entire line were $18.795,072; operating expenses, $75,275,891; interest paid on funded and unfunded debt, $16, 188,403; dividends paid, $6,481,398.

In 1887 there was in Ohio 49,008 miles of telegraph wire; 1,019 telegraph offices with 1,158 employees. [Electric light and motor and telephone wires not included.]

The Miami and Erie system, being the main canal, from Cincinnati 250 miles, the canal from the junction to the State line 18 miles and feeder 14 miles, making in all a total of 282 miles; the Ohio Canal, from Portsmouth to Cleveland, a distance of 309 miles, together with 25 miles of feeders, or a total of 334 miles; the Hocking canal, 56 miles long, and the Walhonding, 25 miles; the Muskingum Improvement, extending from Dresden to Marietta, a distance of 91 miles, is now under the control of the General Government. So exclusive of the latter there is a total canal mileage of 607 miles owned by the State of Ohio.  The reservoirs are: Grand Reservoir in Mercer County, covering 17,000 acres; the Lewistown in Logan County, 7,200 acres; the Lorain in Shelby County, 1,800 acres; Six Mile in Paulding County, 2,500 acres; Licking in Licking County, 3,600 acres; and the Sippo in Stark County, 600 acres, making a total in reservoirs of 32,100 acres.  The Paulding Reservoir has lately been abandoned.  The different canals with their reservoirs were built at a total cost of $15,967,650.”

Political.—State, congressional and presidential elections take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  The number of electoral votes is 23.  The Legislature consists of 33 Senators and 108 Representatives, both class elected for two years.  The sessions are biennial, convening on the first Monday in January, without limit of time, but adjourned sessions practically make them annual.  All the elective officers are chosen for two years, except the Auditor whose term is four years, Commissioner of Common Schools, Board of Public Works, Clerk of the Supreme Court, whose terms are three years, and Judges of the Supreme Court, whose terms are five years.  The number of voters 826,5774 of which 613,485 are native whites, 191,386 foreign whites and 21,706 colored, (Census of 1880.)  All males twenty-one years of age, native or naturalized, are entitled to vote, provided they have resided one year in the State, thirty days in the county, and twenty days in the township or ward and have been registered before the day of election.  Salary of the Governor $8,000 per year.  The legal rate of interest is 6 per cent; by contract 8 per cent.

Finances.—The amount of funded State debt Nov. 15, 1887, was $3,341,666 This sum consists of a loan of $600,000, bearing 4 per cent interest, payable July 1, 1888; ten loans of $260,000 each, one payable each year from July 1, 1889, July 1, 1898, bearing 3 per cent interest, and one loan of $240,000, payable in July , 1899, also bearing 3 per cent interest, and canal loan without interest of $1,665

Irreducible State debt (trust funds), $4,526,716.

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The amount of taxable property assessed in 1887, was real estate in cities, towns and villages, $464,681,331; real estate not in cities, towns and villages, $720,329,294; chattel property, $530,172.094.  The rate of State tax was 29 cents on the $100.  In addition to the State tax there was levied in 1887 were county taxes $8,372.519; township, $1,099,963; school, $7,682,120; city, town and village, $7,606,025; special, $1,144,338.  The debt of counties in 1887 were $6,892,745; cities of the first and second class, $43,193,963; incorporated villages $1,743,722; townships, $577,883; special school districts, $2,455,330.  The number of bans in 1887 was 429 with a capital of $46,568,211 of which 211 were national banks worth a capital of $31,542,003.

Educational.—In 1887 there were 12,589 school-houses in the State, valued at

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$29,287,749.  Of 1,102,701 children of school age 767,030 were enrolled in the schools.  There were 24,687 teachers employed, and an income for support of schools of $14,031,692; expenditures, $9,909,813, of which $6,252,518 was paid to teachers.  School age from 6 to 21 years.  Ohio has three State Colleges, Ohio State, Miami and Ohio Universities. The number of volumes in libraries in 1886 was 991,086.

The number of students in colleges and universities in 1887 was 1,613 males and 765 females; instructors, 265.  Total number of graduates, 6,317 males and 1,821 females.  Value of all property, including endowments, $6,998,592.  In 1887 there were also in Ohio 81 academies, normal, preparatory and other schools, with 5,635 male, 3,516 female students and 579 instructors.

Manufacture.—The State Reports of 1887 gave Ohio 6,513 industrial establishments, employing 187,925 men and 29,281 women.  Amount of capital invested, $196,113,670.  Value of products, $344,245,690.

The leading branches, as given by the United States census of 1880, are:

Mining.— ranks second to Pennsylvania only in the production of bituminous coal.  The number of coal mines worked in Ohio in 1887 was 729, employing 22,237 men.  The total yield was 10,301,708 tons.  The total amount of iron ore mined in 1887 was 377,465 tons; fire-clay, 366,476 tons.  During the year 1885 there was produced of salt 530,000 barrels, about 300,000 barrels of cement 18,000 tons of mineral fertilizers, $500,000 worth of grindstones and 1,116,375 tone of limestone.

Relative Rank.—Ohio ranks first in value of quarry products, value of farm lands, manufacture of agricultural implements, glycerine, number of brick and tile factories, number of churches, in receipts for school purposes.  Second.  In iron and steel manufactures, petroleum, natural gas, number of farms, tons of freight carried by railroads, miles of railroad track, butter and cheese establishments, bituminous coal mined, expenditures for school purpose number of school teachers and average daily attendance of children at school.

Third.  In sheep, salt, wheat, population, in number of tanned leather and sawn lumber establishments, Value of railroads and number of cars in use, capital employed in railroads, number of dwellings, persons engaged in agriculture and in the professions, value of church property.

Fourth.  Tobacco raised, value of live stock, number of persons engaged in manufactures, total value of real estate, value of farm implements in use, Printing and publishing.

Fifth.  Number of milch cows, swine, horses, cattle, hay, barley, corn, oats.