History of Logan County and Ohio ... Illustrated

Front matter

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY AXD OHIO. Containing a History of the Strife of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present lime, embracing its topography, geological, physical and climatic features; its agricultural, stock-growing, railroad interests, etc. ; a History of Logan County, giving an account of its aboriginal inhabitants, early settlement by the whites, pioneer incidents, its growth, its improvements, organization of the county, its judicial and political history, its business and industries, churches, schools, etc. ; Biographical Sketches ; Portraits of some of the Early Settlers and Prom- . inent Men, etc. ILLUSTRATED. •+ m »■ ■ CHICAGO: O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, 186 Dearborn Street. i88o. STERREOTYPEO AND PRINTED av THE CHICAGO LEO*'. NEWS COMPANY.

Preface

. !jvsE3 HE WORK that has engaged our historians, W. H. Perrin and J. ET. Battle, for ffpjr, the pasl m mths, is now closed. On these pages they have traced the tedious Bal-sll journey of the pioneer from homes of comfort and refinement to the untouched wilds of the West ; they have noted the rising cabin, the clearing of the forests, the pri vations of the early settlements, the heroic fortitude with which the pioneer surmounted these obstacles, and the patient toil that has " made the wilderness to blossom like the rose;" they have marked the coming of the school-master, and that greater teacher — the preacher — the rise of the schoolhouse and church, and their influence in molding society. This work we have undertaken, in the belief that there is a proper demand that the events which relate to the early times should find a permanent record, and with what fidelity to facts, and with what patience of research this has been accomplished, we shall leave to the judgment of our patrons, in whose keeping the traditions of that day remain, and for whom the work was undertaken.

Advantage has been taken of such historical works as were found; but the chief resource for information has been the traditions which have been handed down from one generation to another. These have generally been verified from other sources; but in some not essential particulars, our writers have been obliged to depend upon tradit on alone, and may thus have sanctioned some errors. These, we trust, will be found of trifling importance; and we ground our hope of the favorable judo-ment of the public upon the essential correctness and completeness of this volume as a history of Logan County. We desire, also, to thank the citizens everywhere in the county, who have so cordially aided our writers in gathering the materials for this volume, and to acknowledge our special indebtedness to the gentlemen who have been associated with the various parts of the work; to Hon. James Walker, of Bellefontaine; Dr. T. L. Weight, of Bellefontaine; J. H. Se Cheverell, of Jelferson; and others whose names appear in the body of this work. October, 1880. Publisher:-.. CONTENTS. PAsiK.

CHAPTER XV.

— Agriculture, Area of the State, Early Agriculture in the West, Markets, Live Stock, Nurseries, Fruits, Etc; Cereals, Root and Cucurbitaceous Crops, Agricultural Implements, Agricultural Societies, Pomological and Horticultural Societies 151

Part I. History Of The State Of Ohio Page

CHATTER I. — Introductory, Topography, Geology, Primitive Races, Antiquities, Indian Tribes 11

CHAPTER XVI.

— Climatology, Outline, Variation in Ohio, Estimate in Degrees, Amount of Variability 163 I rHATTER II.— Explorations in the West 19 (HATTER III.— English Explorations, Traders, French and Indian War in the West, English Possession 37

Part II. Chapter

IV— Pontiac's Conspiracy, Its Failure. Bouquet's Expedition, Occupation by the English 48 HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

CHAPTER V.

— American Exploration, Dunmore's War, Campaign of George Rogers Clarke, Land Troubles, Spain in the Rovolution, Murder of the Moravian Indians.. 52

Chapter I

— Introductory, Topography, Geological Survey, Early Beginnings and Growth of the Agricultural System, Physical and Material Resources of the County 16.1

CHAPTER VI.

— American Occupation, Indian Claims, Early Land Companies, Compact of 1787, Organization* of the Territory, Early American Settlements in the Ohio Valley, First Territorial Officers, Organization of Counties 60

Chapter II

— Prehistoric Races, The Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, Early Wars with the Whites, Lewistown Reservation, Prominent Characters during the Indian Domination 185

Chapter III

— The Miami and Mad River Valleys, Incentives to Immigration, The Course of Empire, Settlements within the Limits of Logan County, Organization of Civil Divisions, Institution o$ Governmental Functions, Public Buildings, Political 223

CHAPTER VII.

— Indian War of 1795, Harmar's Campaign, St. Clair's Campaign, Wayne's Campaign, Close of the War 73

CHAPTER VIII.

— Jay's Treaty, The Question of State Rights and National Supremacy, Extension of Ohio Settlements, Land Claims, Spanish Boundary Question 79

Chapter V

— Religious History, Pioneer Preachers, Schools, Statistics, The Newspapers, their Advantages, Railroads 273

CHAPTER IX.

— First Territorial Representatives in Congress, Division of the Territory, Formation of States, Marietta Settlement, other Settlements, Settlements in the Western Reserve, Settlementof the Central Valleys, Further Settlements in the Reserve and elsewhere 85 CHAPTKR VI.— War History, The Early Conflicts, Mexican War, The Late Rebellion, Sketches of the Different Regiments 291

CHAPTER X.

— Formation of the State Government. Ohio a State, the State Capitals, Legislation, the " Sweeping" Resolutions 121

Chapter X

— McArthur Township, Introduction, Settlement, Villages, Churches, Geneva College 378

CHAPTER XIV

—Education, Early School Laws, Notes, Institutions and Educational Journals, School System, School Funds, Colleges and Universities 148

CHAPTER XL

— Jefferson Township, Topography, Organization as a Civil Division of the County, Prominent Citizens, Churches and Schools CONTENTS. PAGE.

Chapter XVI

— Harrison Township, Indians. Settle ment. Pioneer Schools. Churches, etc is'.

CHAPTER XVIL

— Monroe Township. Descriptive and Topographical, Pioneer History, Early Industries, Schools, Churches, Villages, etc iSl CHAPTER XVm.— Ui.oomfikld Township, Incidents, Settlement. Pioneer Hardships, Churches, etc., the Lost Child Mil

CHAPTER XIX.

— Bokes' Creek Township, Descriptive, the Whites, Schools and Churches, Villages, etc ,">ilfi

CHAPTER XX.

— Union Township, Physical Features. Early Settlement, Incidents of Prominent Pioneers. Churches and Schools 519

CHAPTER XXI.

— Washington Township, Introduction, the Lewistowii Reservation, Settlement, Schools, Churches, etc .-,07

CHAPTER XXII.

— Perry Township, Topography and Description, Settlement, Early Improvements, Re ligions, Educational, Towns, etc 535

CHAPTER XXIII

— stokes Township, The Lcuistown Reservoir. Pioneer Settlement, the Warwick Col. my. etc 543

CHAPTER XXIV.

— Liberty Township, Topography, Pioneer Schools and Preachers. Geological, »,-: Liberty 54S

Part III. Biographical Sketches Page

Biographies Too Late tor Alphabetical Insertion 583 Bloomrield Township 729 Bokes Creek Tow nship 659 Harrison Township 619 Jefferson Township 739 Lake Township 587 Liberty Township "04 M. Arthur Township 816 Miami Township '73 Monme Township 666 Perry Township 645 Pleasant Township BS5 Richland Township "'J' Rush Creek Township 682 stokes Township 627 Union Township 786 Washington Township 733 Zane Township 029 ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAITS. Boggs, William 441 Easton. John • 333 Easton, Charlotte 387 Folsom. licorgc 225 Hoge, J. t. 495 Inskecp. John 279 VIEWS. Logan County Court House ?s3-^OUTLINE MAP QF c --^=- S^3 _ --■—■■ ,j _ — ■ , , SrTl>-fc

Chapter I. Introductory

—TOPOGRAPHY -GEOLOGY —PRIMITIVE-RACES -ANTIQUITIES —INDIAN TRIBES. THE present State of Ohio, comprising an extent of country 210 miles north and south, 220 miles east and west, in length and breadth — 25,576,969 acres — is a part of the Old Northwest Territory. This Territory embraced all of the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, *.Yisconsin and so much of Minnesota as lies east of the Mississippi River. It became a corporate existence soon after the formation of the Virginia Colony, and when that colony took on the dignity of State government it became a county thereof, whose exact outline was unknown. The county embraced in its limits more territory than is com prised in all the New England and Middle States, and was the largest county ever known in the United States. It is watered by the finest system of rivers on the globe ; while its inland seas are without a parallel.

Its entire southern boundary is traversed by the beautiful Ohio, its western by the majestic Mississippi, and its northern and a part of its eastern are bounded by the fresh-water lakes, whose clear waters preserve an even temperature over its entire surface. Into these reservoirs of commerce flow innumerable streams of limpid water, which come from glen and dale, from mountain and valley, from forest and prairie — all avenues of health, commerce and prosperity. Ohio is in the best part of this territory — south of its river are tropical heats ; north of Lake Erie are polar snows and a polar climate. The territory comprised in Ohio has always remained the same. Ohio's history differs somewhat from other States, in that it was never under Ter ritorial government. When it was created, it was made a State, and did not pass through the stage incident to the most of other States, i. e., exist as a Territory before being advanced to the powers of a State.

Such was not the case with the other States of the West ; all were Territories, with Terri torial forms of government, ere they became States. Ohio's boundaries are, on the north, Lakes Erie and Michigan ; on the west, Indiana ; on the south, the Ohio River, separating it from Kentucky; and, on the east, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It is situated between 38° 25' and 42° north latitude ; and 80° 30' and 84° 50' west longitude from Greenwich, or 3° 30' and 7° 50' west from Washington. Its greatest length, from north to south, is 210 miles; the extreme width, from east to west, 220 miles. Were this an exact out line, the area of the State would be 46,200 square miles, or 29,568,000 acres ; as the outlines of the State are, however, rather irregular, the area is estimated at 39,964 square miles, or 25,576,960 acres.

In the last census — 1870 — the total num ber of acres in Ohio is given as 21,712,420, of which 14,469,132 acres are improved, and 0,883, 575 acres are woodland. By the last statistical report of the State Auditor, 20,965,37 If acres are reported as taxable lands. This omits many acres untaxable for various reasons, which would make the estimate, 25,576,960, nearly correct. The face of the country, in Ohio, taken as a whole, presents the appearance of an extensive monotonous plain. It is moderately undulating but not mounlainous, and is excavated in places by the streams coursing over its surface, whose waters have forced a way for themselves through cliffs of sandstone rock, leaving abutments of this material in bold outline. There are no mountain ranges, geological uplifts or peaks. A low ridge enters the State, near the northeast corner, and crosses it in a southwesterly direction, emerging near the inter section of the 40th degree of north latitude with unite at Pittsburgh.

The entire length of the river, from its source to its mouth, is 950 miles, though by a straight line from Pittsburgh to Cairo, it is only 615 miles. Its current is very gentle, hardly three miles per hour, the descent being only five inches per mile. At high stages, the rate of the current increases, and at low stages decreases. Sometimes it is barely two miles per hour. The average range between high and low water mark is fifty feet, although several times the river has risen more than sixty feet above low water mark. At the lowest stage of the river, it is fordable many places between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The river abounds in islands, some of which are exceedingly fertile, and noted in the history of the West. Others, known as ''tow-heads,'' are simply deposits of sand. the western boundary of the State.

This " divide " separates the lake and Ohio River waters, and main tains an elevation of a little more than thirteen hundred feet above the level of the ocean. The highest part is in Richland County, at the southeast corner, where the elevation is 1,390 feet. North of this ridge the surface is generally level, with a gentle inclination toward the lake, the ine qualities of the surface being caused by the streams which empty into the lake. The central part of Ohio is almost, in general, a level plain, about one thousand feet above the level of the sea, slightly inclining southward. The Southern part of the State is rather hilly, the valleys growing deeper as they incline toward the great valley of the Ohio, which is several hundred feet below the general level of the State. In the southern counties, the surface is generally diversified by the inequalities produced by the excavating power of the Ohio River and its tributaries, exercised through long periods of time.

There are a few prairies, or plains, in the central and northwestern parts of the State, but over its greater portion originally existed im mense growths of timber. The '• divide,' or water-shed, referred to, between the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio River, is less elevated in Ohio than in New York and Penn sylvania, though the difference is small. To a per son passing over the State in a balloon, its surface presents an unvarying plain, while, to one sailing down the Ohio River, it appears mountainous. On this river are bluffs ranging from two hundred and fifty to six hundred feet in height. As one ascends the tributaries of the river, these bluffs diminish in height until they become gentle undu lations, while toward the sources of the streams, in the central part of the State, the banks often become lowand marshy.

The principal rivers are the Ohio, Muskingum, Scioto and Miami, on the southern slope, emptying into the Ohio ; on the northern, the Maumee, Sandusky, Huron and Cuyahoga, emptying into Lake Erie, and, all but the first named, entirely in Ohio. The Scioto is one of the largest inland streams in the State, and is one of the most beautiful riv ers. It rises in Hardin County, flows southeast erly to Columbus, where it receives its largest affluent, the Olentangy er Whetstone, after which its direction is southerly until it enters the Ohio at Portsmouth. It flows through one of the rich est valleys in the State, and has for its companion the Ohio and Erie Canal, for a distance of ninety miles. Its tributaries are, besides the Whet stone, the Darby, Walnut and Paint Creeks. The Muskingum River is formed by the junction of the Tuscarawas and Waldhoning Rivers, which rise, in the northern part of the State and unite at Coshocton.

From the junction, the river flows in a southeastern course about one hundred miles, through a rich and populous valley, to the Ohio, at Marietta, the oldest settlement in the State. At its outlet, the Muskingum is over two hundred yards wide. By improvements, it has been made navigable ninety-five miles above Mari etta, as far as Dresden, where a side cut, three miles long, unites its waters with those of the Ohio Canal. All along this stream exist, in abundant profusion, the remains of an ancient civiliza tion, whose history is lost in the twilight of antiquity. Extensive mounds, earthworks and various fortifications, are everywhere to be found, inclosing a mute history as silent as the race that dwelt here and left these traces of their evistence. The same may be said of all the other valleys in Ohio.

The Ohio, the chief river of the State, and from which it derives its name, with its tributaries, drains a country whose area is over two hundred thousand square miles in extent, and extending from the water-shed to Alabama. The river was first dis covered by La Salle in 1669, and was by him nav igated as far as the Falls, at Louisville, Ky. It is formed by the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, in Pennsylvania, whose waters The Miami River — the scenes of many exploits in pioneer days — rises in Hamlin County, near the headwaters of the Scioto, and runs southwesterly, to the Ohio, 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 Its total length is about one hundred and titty miles.

The Maumee is the largest river in the northern part of Ohio. It rises in Indiana and flows north easterly, into Lake Erie. About eighty miles of its course are in Ohio. It is navigable as far as Perrysburg, eighteen miles from its mouth. The other rivers north of the divide are all small, rapid-running streams, affording a large amount of good water-power, much utilized by mills and man ufactories. were appointed a committee by the Legislature of Ohio to report the " best method of obtaining a complete geological survey of the State, and an estimate of the probable cost of the same." In the preparation of their report, Dr. Hildreth examined the coal-measures in the southeastern part, of the Slate, Prof Riddle and Mr. Lapham made exam inations in the western and northern counties, while Dr. Locke devoted his attention to chemical analyses.

These investigations resulted in the presentation of much valuable information con cerning the mineral resources of the State and in a plan for a geological survey. In accordance with the recommendation of this Committee, the Legislature, in 1837, passed a bill appropriating 812.000 for the prosecution of the work during the next year. The Geological Corps appointed consisted of W. W. Mather, State Geologist, with Dr. Hildreth, Dr. Locke, Prof. J. P. Kirtland, J. W. Foster, Charles Whittlesey and Charles Briggs, Jr., Assistants. The results of the first year's work appeared in 1838, in an octavo volume of 134 pages, with contributions from Mather, Hildreth, Briggs, Kirtland and Whittlesey. In 1838, the Legislature ordered the continuance of the work, and, at the close of the year, a second report, of 286 pages, octavo, was issued, containing contribu tions from all the members of the survey.

Succeeding Legislatures failed to provide for a continuance of the work, and, save that done by private means, nothing was accomplished till 1869, when the Legislature again took up the work. In the interim, individual enterprise had done much. In 1841, Prof. James Hall passed through the State, and, by his indentification of several of the formations with those of New York, for the first time fixed their geological age. The next year, he issued the first map of the geology of the State, in common with the geological maps of all the region between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. Similar maps were published by Sir Charles Lyell, in 1845 ; Prof. Edward Hitchcock, in 1853, and by J. Mareon, in 1856. The first individual map of the geology of Ohio was a very small one, published by Col. Whittlesey, in 1848, in Howe's History.

In 1856, he published a larger map, and, in 1865, another was issued by Prof. Nelson Sayler. In 1807, Dr. J. S. Newberry published a geological map and sketch of Ohio in the Atlas of the State issued by H. S. Stebbins. Up to this time, the geological knowledge was very general in its character, and, consequently, erroneous in many of its details. Other States had been A remarkable feature of the topography of Ohio is its almost total absence of natural lakes or ponds. A few very small ones are found near the water-shed, but all too small to be of any practical value save as watering-places for stock. Lake Erie, which forms nearly all the northern boundary of the State, is next to the last or lowest of America's " inland seas." It is 290 miles long, and 57 miles wide at its greatest part. There are no islands, except in the shallow water at the west end, and very few bays.

The greatest depth of the lake is off Long Point, where the water is 312 feet deep. The shores are principally drift-clay or hard-pan, upon which the waves are continually encroaching. At Cleveland, from the first survey, in 1796, to 1842, the encroachment was 218 feet along the entire city front. The entire coast is low, seldom rising above fifty feet at the water's edge. Lake Erie, like the others, has a variable surface, rising and falling with the seasons, like great rivers, called the "annual fluctuation," and a mineral 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. Lake Erie has several excellent harbors in Ohio, among which are Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, Port Clinton and Ashtabula.

Valuable improvements have been made in some of these, at the expense of the General Government. In 1818, the first steamboat was launched on the lake. Owing to the Falls of Niagara, it could go no farther east than the outlet of Niagara River. Since then, however, the opening of the Welland Canal, in Canada, allows vessels drawing not more than ten feet of water to pass from one lake to the other, greatly facilitating navigation. As early as 1836, Dr. S. P. Hildreth, Dr. John Locke, Prof. J. H. Riddle and Mr. I. A. Lapham, accurately surveyed, yet Ohio remained a kind of terra incognita, of which the geology was less known than any part of the surrounding area. In 1869, the Legislature appropriated, for a new survey, $13,900 for its support during one year, and appointed Dr. Newberry Chief Geologist ; E.' B. Andrews, Edward Orton and J. H. Klipplart were appointed Assistants, and T. G. Wormley, Chemist.

The result of the first year's work was a volume of 164 pages, octavo, published in 1870. form an island, which proves the former continuity of the strata which compose it. On the east side of the great anticlinal axis, the rocks dip down into a basin, which, for several hundred miles north and south, occupies the inter val between the Nashville and Cincinnati ridge and the first fold of the Alleghany Mountains. In this basin, all the strata form trough-like layers, their edges outcropping eastward on the flanks of the Alleghanies, and westward along the anticlinal axis. As they dip from this margin east ward toward the center of the trough, near its middle, on the eastern border of the State, the older rocks are deeply buried, and the surface is here underlaid by the highest and most recent of our rock formations, the coal measures.

In the northwestern corner of the State, the strata dip northwest from the anticlinal and pass under the Michigan coal basin, precisely as the same formations east of the anticlinal dip beneath the Alle ghany coal-field, of which Ohio's coal area forms a part. This report, accompanied by maps and charts, for the first time accurately defined the geological formations as to age and area. Evidence was given which set at rest questions of nearly thirty years' standing, and established the fact that Ohio in cludes nearly double the number of formations be fore supposed to exist. Since that date, the sur veys have been regularly made. Each county is being surveyed by itself, and its formation ac curately determined. Elsewhere in these pages, these results are given, and to them the reader is referred for the specific geology of the county.

Only general results can be noted here. On the general geological map of the State, are two sections of the State, taken at each northern and southern extremity. These show, with the map, the general outline of the geological features of ( )hio, and are all that can be given here. Both sections show the general arrangements of the formation, and prove that they lie in sheets resting one upon another, but not horizontally, as a great arch traverses the State from Cincinnati to the lake shore, between Toledo and Sandusky. Along this line, which extends southward to Nashville, Tenn., all the rocks are raised in a ridge or fold, once a low mountain chain. In the lapse of ages, it has, however, been extensively worn away, and now, along a large part of its course, the strata which once arched over it are removed from its summit, and are found resting in regular order on either side, dipping away from its axis.

Where the ridge was highest, the erosion has been greatest, that being the reason why the oldest rocks are exposed in the region about Cin cinnati. By following the line of this great arch from Cincinnati northward, it will be seen that the Helderberg limestone ( No. 4 ), midway of the State, is still unbroken, and stretches from side to side ; while the Oriskany, the Corniferous, the Hamilton and the Huron formations, though generally removed from the crown of the arch, still remain over a limited area near Bellefontaine, where they The rocks underlying the State all belong to three of the great groups which geologists have termed "systems," namely, the Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous. Each of these are again sub divided, for convenience, and numbered. Thus the Silurian system includes the Cincinnati group, the Medina and Clinton groups, the Niagara group, and the Salina and Water-Line groups.

The Devonian system includes the Oriskany sandstone, the Carboniferous limestone, the Hamilton group, the Huron shale and the Erie shales. The Carboniferous system includes the Waverly group, the Carboniferous Conglomerate, the Coal Meas ures and the Drift. This last includes the surface, and has been divided into six parts, numbering from.the lowest, viz.: A glacialed surface, the Gla cial Drift, the J"rie Clays, the Forest Bed, the Ice berg Drift and the Terraces or Beaches, which mark intervals of stability in the gradual recession of the water surface to its present level. " The history we may learn from these formations," says the geologist, " is something as fol lows: " First. Subsequent to the Tertiary was a period of continual elevation, during which the topog raphy of the country was much the same as now, the draining streams following the lines they now do, but cutting down their beds until they flowed sometimes two hundred feet lower than they do at present.

In the latter part of this period of ele vation, glaciers, descending from the Canadian islands, excavated and occupied the valleys of the great lakes, and covered the lowlands down nearly to the Ohio. man has been established in Europe as a eotempor ary of the fossil elephant, mastodon, rhinoceros and the horse, of the later drift or glacial period, we may reasonably anticipate the presence of man in America in that era. Such proofs are already known, but they are not of that conclusive charac ter which amounts to a demonstration. It is, how over, known that an ancient people inhabited Ohio in advance of the red men who were found here, three centuries since, by the Spanish and French explorers. " Five and six hundred years before the arrival of Columbus," says Col. Charles Whittlesey, "the Northmen sailed from Norway, Iceland and Green land along the Atlantic coast as tar as Long Island.

They found Indian tribes, in what is now New En gland, closely resembling those who lived upon the coast and the St. Lawrence when the French and English came to possess these regions. "Second. By a depression of the land and ele vation of temperature, the glaciers retreated north ward, leaving, in the interior of the continent, a great basin of fresh water, in which the Erie clays were deposited. " Third. This water was drained away until a broad land surface was exposed within the drift area. Upon this surface grew forests, largely of red and white cedar, inhabited by the elephant, mastodon, giant beaver and other large, now ex tinct, animals. "Fourth. The submergence of this ancient land and the spreading over it, by iceberg agency, of gravel, sand and bowlders, distributed just as ice bergs now spread their loads broadcast over the sea bottom on the banks of Newfoundland.

"Fifth. The gradual draining-off of the waters, leaving the land now as we find it, smoothly cov ered with all the layers of the drift, and well prepared for human occupation." " In six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and rested the seventh day," records the Scriptures, and, when all was done, He looked upon the work of His own hands and pronounced it "good." Surely none but a divine, omnipotent hand could have done all this, and none can study the "work of His hands" and not marvel at its completeness. " These red Indians had no traditions of a prior people ; but over a large part of the lake country and the valley of the Mississippi, earth-works, mounds, pyramids, ditches and forts were discovered — the work of a more ancient race, and a peo ple far in advance of the Indian.

If they were not civilized, they were not barbarians. They were not mere hunters, but had fixed habitations, cultivated the soil and were possessed of consider able mechanical skill. We know them as the Mound- Builders, because they erected over the mortal remains of their principal men and women memorial mounds of earth or unhewn stone — of which hundreds remain to our own day, so large and high that they give rise to an impression of the numbers and energy of their builders, such as we receive from the pyramids of Egypt." Might they not have been of the same race and the same civilization ? Many competent authori ties conjecture they are the work of the lost tribes of Israel ; but the best they or any one can do is only conjecture. " In the burial-mounds," continues Col. Whit tlesey, " there are always portions of one or more human skeletons, generally partly consumed by fire, with ornaments of stone, bone, shells, mica and copper.

The largest mound in Ohio is near Miamisburg, Montgomery County. It is the second largest in the West, being nearly seventy feet high, originally, and about eight hundred feet in circumference. This would give a superficial area of nearly four acres. In 1864, the citizens of Miamisburg sunk a shaft from the summit to the natural surface, without finding the bones The ancient dwellers of the Mississippi Valley will always be a subject of great interest to the antiquarian. Who they were, and whence they came, are still unanswered questions, and may remain so for ages. All over this valley, and, in fact, in all parts of the New World, evidences of an ancient civilization exist, whose remains are now a wonder to all. The aboriginal races could throw no light on these questions. They had always seen the remains, and knew not whence they came.