line, with thirteen horses and some cattle, on the 4th day of July, 1796, and celebrated the day in good style, and two days later began to measure the east line of New Connecticut, as they called it, and on the first day found plenty of gnats and mosquitoes, and encamped near a swamp. This surveying party was about sixteen days in working southward along the western line of Pennsylvania, which had been surveyed about two years previously. They made their way through woods and swamps, over streams, up and down the hills, keeping a full account of what they saw each day, describing the soil, the timber, the water, etc., until they reached the 41st degree of latitude, which was the base or south line of the Western Reserve. The plan of survey agreed upon at the time required them to run west on this parallel 120 miles, from the west boundary of Pennsylvania, making in all twenty-four ranges of townships, five miles square. The townships were numbered northward to the lake, from one upward; Cleveland was in the twelfth range, and No. 7 in order, from the south. As all that part of the Western Reserve west of the Cuyahoga River was at that time claimed by the Indians, the original survey was made only to the river Cuyahoga, coming from the East.

I need not dwell on the manner in which the proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company surveyed and divided up the immense territory which thus came into their possession. The system of division adopted was too complicated to admit of a satisfactory explanation at this time. The entire interest which the company owned was divided up into 400 shares, each subscription of $3,000 representing one four-hundredth part of the price of the Western Reserve. The first division. made was of four townships, which were selected by a committee of three, as being of the greatest value, next to the six already selected for sale, on account of their situation and natural advantages. These four townships were Northfield, in Summit county, Bedford and Warrensville in this county, and

Perry in Lake county. These were surveyed into 412 lots, the intention being that each lot should contain about 160 acres, and each share was intended to be good for an average lot in a township. In this, as well as in other drafts, many of the owners of an interest in the Connecticut Land Company united their interests in common, and drew together.

In addition to this draft of these four townships there were four others. The first was in 1798, and was for all the remaining lands east of the Cuyahoga, and was arranged to be drawn in ninety-three parts, each part being about one township, and representing $12,903.23 of interest in the original $1,200,000 purchase price. The second draft was in 1802, for the balance of the six townships then unsold, and the land in Weathersfield township, Trumbull county, where Niles is located, and which was not divided in 1798 because of uncertainty about the limits of the 25,000 acres bought by General Parsons. The third draft was in 1807, and was for the townships west of the Cuyahoga. Draft number four was for the surplus land, so-called, lying between the Fire Lands on the west and the Connecticut Land Company's on the east; also at this draft were divided up what notes and claims there were on hand growing out of the sale of the six townships and all unadjusted claims.

The actual quantity of land in the Western Reserve, by survey, as estimated by the late General Simon Perkins, is as follows:

CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY

Land east of Cuyahoga River, etc....

Land west of Cuyahoga, exclusive of surplus and islands

in Lake Erie....

Acres.

2,002,970

827,921

According to the computation by the late Leonard Case, there were but 3,333,690 acres, but he does not include the Parsons tract. He also estimated that the directors sold, before the division of the six townships, 2,852 acres in Mentor; 2,355 in Euclid, and 6,754 in Cleveland.

As I have already said, in 1788, Governor St. Clair established all of Ohio east of the Cuyahoga, the old Portage Path, and the Tuscarawas into Washington county; in 1796, Wayne county was organized, including with other counties, all of the Reserve west of the Cuyahoga, the Portage Path, and the Tuscarawas. In 1797 that part of the Reserve that had been in Washington county was put into Jefferson county, with Steubenville for the county seat. In 1780 the Western Reserve was organized under the territorial government of Trumbull county, with Warren as the county seat, and the first court held August 25th, 1800. In 1801 there were but thirtyfive families in Warren, but it was by far the most important point on the Reserve. In 1801 they began to get a mail once in two weeks from Pittsburgh by way of Canfield and Youngstown, and that was the terminus of the mail route for a couple of years before it came on to Cleveland. The route from Warren was by way of Deerfield, Ravenna, Hudson, etc., and from Cleveland to Detroit, along the old Indian trail to Sandusky, Toledo, and so on to Detroit. From Cleveland to Warren, the mail went via Painesville and Jefferson. Geauga county was organized March 1st, 1806, and included a large part of Cuyahoga; and Portage county, June 7th, 1808, whilst Cuyahoga was organized May 7th, 1810. As that part of the Reserve lying in the Mahoning Valley was more accessible for many years than the northern part, for a number of years it thrived most.

The county of Cuyahoga has remained in its present state since 1843, having, from time to time, been reduced in size by the formation of Huron, Medina, Lorain, and Lake counties.

The first mill erected in Cuyahoga county was at the falls in Newburgh. Its completion was celebrated by the pioneers with great rejoicing, and it was only at the beginning of this century that our forefathers of the Reserve enjoyed the luxury of bolted flour. Another evidence of advancing civilization was the building of a still-house, in 1800, at Cleveland. They couldn't sell their corn for money, so they made it into whisky; they couldn't sell the whisky for money, so they were compelled to drink it.

The lands in the six reserved townships and of the city lots in Cleveland, were very slow of sale. City lots had fallen onehalf in value, or from $50 to $25, and it is a remarkable fact that the most fortunate of the men who went into the Connecticut Land Company realized a very meager profit, and many of them were losers rather than gainers in the enterprise. The Reserve settled very slowly compared with more recent settlements in the western States, as Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, or Wisconsin. As showing the slow growth of the country for the first twenty years of this century, take Cleveland. In 1796 its population was 4; in 1797, 15; in 1800, three years later, only 7; in 1810, 57; only 50 in ten years; and in 1820, Cleveland had 150 inhabitants. In those early days money was scarce, the facilities for transportation were very poor, and the country was yet in the woods. To pioneers, as to most of mankind, the golden age is always in the past, but he who compares the Western Reserve with what it was when the pioneers first invaded its forests, cannot fail to see the wonderful change.

Within its borders are the thrifty cities and towns of Sandusky, Norwalk, Elyria, Wellington, Medina, Cleveland, Akron, Ravenna, Warren, Youngstown, Painesville, Ashtabula, Jefferson, and numerous others. It is abundantly supplied with railroads, and I have the authority of the Secretary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture for saying that every 100 acres of land on the Reserve, besides yielding a variety of

tillage crops, yields also an average of 262 pounds of butter and 924 pounds of cheese, "far exceeding the world-wide famous Scioto Valley." Again, the Reserve averages 94 cattle to every 100 acres, while neither the Scioto nor Miami Valleys, both famous for their cattle, exceed 6 head to 100 acres. Also, that the product per acre of wheat, corn, oats, flaxseed, potatoes, tobacco, sorghum, and clover hay, exceed those of the Miami Valley. The explanation is not in the superiority of the soil, but, as Mr. Klippart says, there is a better system of culture on the Reserve than is to be found anywhere else in the State. What but fifty years ago was little better than a wilderness, is now a rich and populous portion of Ohio, increasing yearly in wealth, people and general prosperity.

I have thus outlined the history of Ohio for two hundred years, and of the Western Reserve for three-quarters of a century. What there is to-day to be proud of and rejoice in our midst, we largely owe to the brave pioneers-to the noble men and women who subdued the wilderness, and laid the foundations of this Commonwealth of the Western Reserve, whose people are as intelligent, thrifty, prosperous, and patriotic as are to be found on any equal area in the world-a people who read and think for themselves. Many of the old pioneers have passed away. Their memories should be hallowed, the story of their early trials and struggles should be often told. The younger generation should not be allowed to forget that there is a past full of intense interest, the study of which will enrich and ennoble the descendants of the pioneers, by its memorable struggles, trials and conquests, through which our pioneer fathers passed in the subjugation of a wilderness, and its reduction under the hand of civilization and industry. It was the proud boast of a Roman Emperor that he found Rome brick and left it marble. The pioneers did more. They left blooming gardens, affluence, thriving cities,