duties of their office. Two families, also, arrived within this period, with a number of men, for the purpose of preparing for the removal of their families. "In September, the first Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas was held. And by the first of December, besides single men, and others for the purpose of building cabins for the reception of their families, about twenty families had arrived. "In December, 1788, the agents of the Company resolved that one hundred acres out of each right for the purpose of establishing settlements in the different parts of the purchase; to be granted in one hundred acre lots to such persons as should erect block-houses, &c., and make certain improvements. Under these regulations, by the 30th of October, 1789, when about ninety families had arrived, nine distinct associations, amounting to two hundred and fifty settlers, had been formed; and by December, 1790, settlements had commenced, or improvements been made in all but one. Two settlements at Belpré, one at Newbury, and one at Wolf Creek." "In the year 1790, a settlement commenced at the forks of Duck Creek; one at the mouth of Meigs Creek, thirty miles up the Muskingum; one at Anderson's Bottom, about forty miles down the Ohio, and one at Big Bottom, ten miles above Meigs Creek. Harris's Tour, pp. 191, 192. The last-named station was surprised, and nearly all the garrison were massacred, by the Indians, January 2d, 1791. This was the first attack on the Muskingum settlements. The war, which continued from this time till Wayne had conquered the Indians in 1794, confined the people to the shelter of their fortresses, and stayed, of course, the progress of settlement. Their sufferings were not very great. Very few were killed. The settlers kept very few horses to tempt the savages. They had excellent spies and rangers. The Indians were watching, but they found an enemy too vigilant and too resolute to be attacked with impunity. Notwithstanding the war, cially to men who were so much used to solicit or to be solicited for appointments of honor or profit. They seemed to be the more urgent on this head. I observed to them, although I wished for nothing for myself, yet I thought the Ohio Company entitled to some attention; that one of the judges besides General Parsons, should be of that body; and that General Putnam was the man best qualified and most agreeable to the Company, and gave them his character." General Parsons seemed well pleased to be judge under St. Clair, rather than governor, and urged Dr. Cutler to go on the bench, with him; "but," says the Doctor, "I absolutely declined, assuring him I had no wish to go into the civil line." fields were cultivated around the garrison, and supplies of game and fish were obtained. The inmates of the various fortresses lived in great harmony; the whole colony was a band of brothers, social, cheerful, and benevolent; and afterwards, when severed and pursuing their varied individual projects and vocations, they would look back with regret to the days of brotherly love and social glee, which they had passed in the garrisons. Though the settlement of the "Purchase" was greatly retarded, as we have already noticed, by the Indian war, and by the difficulty of obtaining the lands from the proprietors scattered far and wide, and the real or supposed superiority of the Miami regions, yet the Muskingum and Hockhocking settlements made no inconsiderable progress during some ten or twelve years after Wayne's victory. In the first years of the nineteenth century, Marietta was a thriving town. It was thus described by Harris in 1803. "The situation of this town is extremely well chosen, and is truly delightful. The appearance of the rivers, the banks, and the distant hills, is remarkably picturesque. Marietta is a place of great business, and is rapidly increasing in population, wealth, and elegance. Ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent. A spirit of industry and enterprise prevails." During the last year (1802) had been launched from the ship-yard of Captain Devol, on the Muskingum, the ship "Muskingum," of two hundred and four tons, and the brigantine "Eliza Greene," of one hundred and fifteen tons. At the spring floods of the present year, the schooner" Indiana," of one hundred tons, the brig " Marietta," of one hundred and thirty tons, and another of one hundred and fifty tons, were launched here, and descended the river for New Orleans. This business of ship-building, while it pushed forward the town for a time, proved injurious in the end. It carried the town ahead of the country; and when the long embargo of 1807 came on, the prospects of the place were blasted, and the unfavorable effects of this check were not overcome for near a quarter of a century. The town, and indeed the whole Purchase, have been subjected to singular disparagements. It has been stigmatized as a barren region; the Muskingum valley has been said to be "unhealthy," and the whole town of Marietta has, by common fame, been doomed to desolation by floods. These illusions are passing away. The hills of the Purchase are found to yield bountifully to the hand of skilful industry. There is scarce a district of more general salubrity in the whole Union, notwithstanding the seasons of 1807 and 1822-3. The first of these visitations was shared in common with other new settlements in the West; the last, in successive years, spread over a large portion of the States. The fevers were as prevalent and as fatal on the mountain regions of Virginia, as in the low grounds of Ohio,-in the vales of the Potomac (regions famed for salubrity) as in the valley of the Muskingum. The floods bring trouble, occasionally, through the whole course of the Ohio. Perhaps the greatest misfortune in respect to them, is that, in the earlier days of the settlement, they were more moderate in height than they were afterwards.* Hence many dwellings, and not a few expensive ones, were, unnecessarily, placed within their reach. It was so with a part of Marietta, and with many settlements on the margin of the Ohio and the Muskingum, as well as elsewhere. But Marietta has some three hundred acres of eligible building ground, far above any flood that can, with any probability, be assigned to any period of time since the days of Noah. In the primitive days of the settlement, when scarce a road existed, no situation could be so pleasant, so alluring, as the "river bank," whence might be viewed the floating mansions of the "movers," destined for the fair realms of "Miami ” or "Kentuck." We well remember, some thirty years ago, just after a "fresh," which had risen two feet above its predecessors, to have asked some of the dwellers in Belpré why they did not remove their habitations to the beautiful rise which crossed their plantations, and overlooked all floods. They were almost shocked at the thought of quitting the immediate margin of "la Belle Ri *We will note the principal stages of progress in the height of Ohio floods, (or freshets,) as they have fallen under our personal notice. The "Christmas fresh," of 1808, was an advance of two feet; the "January fresh," sometimes called the "Ice fresh," of 1813, was four and a half feet higher, the Ohio being then much the strongest. The "April fresh," of 1815, about the same at Marietta, but the Muskingum greatly the strongest, and higher than ever known to the whites before or since. The "February fresh," of 1832, (more than nine years ago, but the last overflowing at Marietta,) was five feet higher still. From the interesting article of Dr. Hildreth on Floods, it seems that the inundation of 1783 was from three to five feet higher than the "great fresh" of 1832. vière." But the further increase of the floods some nine or ten feet, has changed their "notions" on this subject. There is scarcely a town of importance on the beautiful river, which has not a considerable portion of its "plot" liable to be overflowed. But these floods, when they rise not to an unexpected height, are not so injurious as might be imagined. Men brave, and will brave, these invasions of the watery element, which are but transient, for the sake of advantage and convenience, connected with vicinity to the immense business of this great channel of commercial and social intercourse. The Ohio Company's Purchase, after its long season of disparagement, is becoming prominent as an important portion of the favored State of Ohio. The advantages of the Purchase in having an extensive border on the Ohio, below its principal obstructions, and as being part of a district of high importance, which extends from Lake Erie to Ohio, must be very obvious. This district, embracing a large share of the internal improvements, manufacturing facilities, and mineral riches of the State, may be thus described. Beginning on the Ohio river, opposite the northeast corner of Kentucky; thence northerly along the dividing lands between the streams of Scioto and Huron rivers on the west, and Raccoon, Hockhocking, Muskingum, and Vermilion on the east, to Lake Erie, near its most southern bend; thence along the lake about twenty leagues; thence southerly so as to include all the branches of the Cuyahoga and the Muskingum, and to intersect the Ohio at the mouth of Fishing Creek, Virginia. The district extends to about one third of the five hundred miles of the river coast of the State. It is a fertile and eminently healthy region. Of its salubrity the observant traveller may readily satisfy himself by seeing the number and the sprightliness of the children. Comparisons have been made between the Ohio Company's Purchase and the lands lying west of it, in which the lands of the former have been too much undervalued. A juster estimate has lately obtained, as we may conclude from the relative increase of population, from 1830 to 1840, of seven counties each, lying nearest the Ohio, in three districts, viz. the Company's lands, the valley of the Scioto, and that of the Miami. Ohio Company. Counties. 1830. 1840. Counties. 9,763 19,108 Adams, 9,733 13,445 Brown, 4,008 9,735 Fayette, 5,366 9,745 Pickaway, 6,159 11,455 Pike, 11,796 20,857 Ross, Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Lawrence, Morgan, Washington,11,731 20,694 Scioto, Miami. Scioto. The towns in the Muskingum valley are generally in a very thriving condition. Marietta (with Harmar) has about doubled in ten years, and its lots have risen several hundred per cent. in price. Ohio has become distinguished for its efforts in the cause of education. One of its constitutional provisions is, that "religion, morality, and knowledge, being essentially necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall be for ever encouraged by legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of conscience." [Constitution of Ohio, art. 3, sec. 3.] The legis lature has established a system for the support of Common Schools, equal, perhaps, to any in the Union. Ohio has also taken the lead in the establishment of institutions for higher branches of instruction. She has even been charged with multiplying her colleges to an unwise extent. There may be less ground for this censure than would at first sight appear. A million and a half of people, soon to be five millions, and ultimately ten or twelve, will need many such establishments; more especially in view of the greatly increased and increasing demand for improved intellectual culture. In the next place, Ohio is, and is likely to become more and more, a sort of centre and focus of intellectual pursuits. Ohio has taken the lead in the West in this as in other things, and will probably hold it. A very large number of students, too, may be expected to resort there from the South and Southeast, and not a few from the East. Young men of New England who intend to settle in the West, including those who aim at professional life, will often be disposed to repair to the hill regions of Ohio, where, in the progress of their studies, they may become inured to western seasons and acquainted with western sentiments and habits. * The improvement of the Muskingum, by dams for slack water navigation, secures a vast amount of water power. M'Connersville, Taylorsville, Beverly, Lowell, &c., are likely to become large manufacturing towns. |
