HISTORY OF VINTON COUNTY
- A COUNTY WHICH CAME INTO BEING READY MADE BY TOWNSHIP.

A County Which Had No Pioneer History - Labor - Its Organization, 1850 - Boundary and Area
- Early Arrivals - An Interesting Letter - Names of Early Settlers - Political Movements
- First Convention - Jail and Contract - Court House - Mineral Interests - Coal
- Iron Ore - Geological Report - Burr Stone - Agricultural and Stock Statistics
- Valuation - Miles of Railroad - County Infirmary - Buildings and Cost - Officials
 

AREA AND BOUNDARY

     Vinton County is credited in the census of 1880 with an area of 400 squares miles.  This is an error, being composed of exactly eleven congressional townships and six sections over, or 402 square miles.  There are five townships having less than a congressional  township, and one that has more.  Madison and Knox have each two thirds of a congressional township, in territory; Clinton, five sixths; Eagle is wanting four sections to complete her quota; 

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rison needs two sections, while Richland has six sections over.  What Harrison and Eagle lacks, Richmond makes up, and what Clinton wants is made up by the twin townships Madison and Knox, with one tier of sections to spare.  On the west side Vinton County has but eleven miles of border, while on the east, she is twenty-six miles, and the above twenty-four miles gives her greatest length north and south.  She is not a beauty in form, in square miles she is entitled to 257,280 acres of land, but she is assessed, in the aggregate, on 258,078  97-100 acres, or about 758 acres more than the area in square miles.  It is evident that the assessors measure both sides of some of the hills.  Yet, not-withstanding this, some of the townships fall short of having the number of acres that should be found in an area six miles square - that is, what is returned by the assessor.  Wilkesville is assessed on 522  61-100 acres less than what her area calls for, while Swan Township is actually assessed on 380  30-100 acres more than is said to be within its limits, by the same rule of six miles square.

SOIL

     The soil of the county is well adapted to grass, and some of the farmers have already splendid grazing farms.  The valleys in many places are wide, and the hills generally are of a sloping character, which in many places are cultivated to their summit, and have been successfully devoted to grape culture.  Fruit can also be raised upon the sides of these hills.  The valleys where clay is found can be improved by under-drainage, but that composed of alluvial is inexhaustible in its fruitful bearing qualities.  Outside of its mineral productions Vinton County can be found to have some fine agricultural lands, nowhere surpassed.

SOME EARLY ARRIVALS.

     The early history of pioneers will mostly be found in the township histories, as they preceded the county history from thirty to forty-five yeas.  There are some names of old and prominent citizens that may have escaped mention, and the notice of a few of those who were prominent in the first settlement of what is now Vinton County, will not be amiss.  The early settlement of Vinton County seemed to have centered more strongly around McArthur and Elk townships, and these represent the first settlers of the county to a great extent.

     Of Mr. MUSSELMAN, the discoverer of the burr stone, very little is known.  He was probably the first white man who settled in the county.  He worked a few years quarrying these stones, as in fact did most of the early or first settlers.
     GEORGE WILL, was a soldier in the Indian war under Generals St. Clair and Wayne, and also in that of 1812.  In the former he was severely wounded.  He settled in 1797 in the valley of the Scioto, some twelve miles from Chillicothe, where he remained until the war of 1812.  In 1813 he was aid-de-camp to General McArthur.  After the war he settled at the new town of Adelphi, in Ross County, putting up a residence and store, and engaged in the mercantile business, at which he secured a competency.  He was the first Postmaster of that town, and remained until 1837, when, being a Whig, he was removed under Van Buren's administration, but was reappointed by General Harrison, who knew him as a soldier comrade and a man of sterling integrity and worth.  During the interval in which he was out of the Postmastership he was elected to the Legislature.  He was a member of the Methodist church for twenty-five years before his death, which occurred Mar. 27, 1845.  George Will was a man of strong mind, energetic, a good neighbor and devoted friend, and while having views and a faith of his own he believed that others could honestly differ from him and be true.

     SAMUEL SAGE was born in Bristol, England, June 11, 1756, and died Apr. 8, 1824, in the sixty-eighth hear of his age.  He was a soldier of the war of the Revolution and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis.  He married Miss Indian Canovan, of Galway, Ireland, and came to America in 1774.  They first settled in Virginia after peace was declared, in which State five children were born to them - Joel, Nancy, Charlotte, and twin sons, James and Joseph.  The latter lived and died in Elk Township, marrying Miss Nancy Landfair.  Joseph married Miss Polly Pliner and moved to Iowa, where he died.  Charlotte married John Boyles, who lived in Athens County, and Nancy became the wife of James Pilcher, and the other four were single.  Samuel Sage came to Ohio in 1806 and settled on what is known as the Warren farm, but in 1810 removed to Elk Township and purchased the farm which is now the property of Daniel Will.  His son-in-law, James Pilcher, followed them and settled in Madison Township, near Zaleski, and his farm is also owned by Daniel Will.  Mr. Sage's wife died in 1833.  Mr. Sage was a man well educated, of gentle bearing and steady habits, and in this country followed the profession of teaching, and farming, but principally the former.  He ever commanded the respect and confidence of his neighbors.

     JOEL SAGE, he eldest son of Samuel Sage, came with his father and settled in Elk Township in the spring of 1815.  In the fall of that year, or winter, McArthurtown being laid out in November, 1815, he opened the first tavern over kept in what is now Vinton County.  He was a man of peculiarly adapted to the business, a genial, hearty man.  He also carried on his farm, and the two kept him a busy life.  He died in the prime of vigorous manhood in 1818.  Seven days previous to his own death, he had buried his wife, and from the time of that parting he seemed to droop.  He soon followed the one he loved so well.

     ROBERT SAGE was the only son and child of Joel Sage and his wife, and was born in 1811.  He is living, and at this time the oldest native citizen of Elk Township.  He married Miss Jane Brewer, and nine children were born to them, six sons and three daughters, six of whom are living, four sons and two daughters.  Three of the sons are living at Hot Springs, Ark., and one in Vinton County.  A daughter is living in McArthur.  Mr. Sage has been a prominent citizen of McArthur for half a century, a well-known and honored citizen.  He is now holding the office of Justice of the Peace, it being the sixth time he has been called upon to serve.  He metes out justice so fair and impartial that he stands as a pillar of strength in the cause of right.  He is respected by all.

     ISAAC DUNKLE commenced his residence in Vinton County at the age of three years, in 1818.  He was born in Pickaway County, Sept. 11, 1815, his father, John Dunkle, moving to this section.  Mr. Dunkle is still living, and a resident of Vinton County, highly esteemed by those who know him, an honest man and upright citizen.

     ISAAC PEIRSON, came to Vinton County in the prime of physical manhood in 1805.  Mr. Peirson was a active member of the Methodist church, and a prominent citizen of McArthurtown when it first came into existence.

     JACOB BYERLY was an early settler in Swan Township, locating in 1820 in his twenty-first year, having been born Feb. 20 1799.  He married Susan Hass the same year.  They had ten children, of whom seven, six daughters and one son, lived to manhood and womanhood.  His wife died July 26, 1854, and before her death weighed 330 pounds, being the largest woman in the county.  He married Mary England for his second wife, who survives him, and is living in Mahaska, Iowa.  Mr. Byerly was a straightforward, honorable man; and was well known in McArthur.  He was a carpenter by trade.  He died in 1875, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

     NATHANIEL RICHMOND settled in Clinton Township in 1820, and located the land upon which the village of Hamden now stands.  He was a man of strong mind, a fluent conversationalist, wee educated, and of considerable scientific attainments.  He was called a scientific farmer, and was not of the age and people in which he had cast his lot.  He was progressive, and had a commanding way in his manner which did not please all with whom he came in contact.  This caused trouble, and he lost two children by what was believed to have been poison, the latter being thrown into his well.  He, in a few years, left for a more congenial clime, and settled in Knoxville, Ill., where, having scope of his genius, he became very wealthy.  He was an honorable man and an entertaining companion.

     BENJAMIN REYNOLDS was born in Martinsburg, in Virginia, Aug. 22, 1790.  In the year 1811 he was married to Susan Shriver, who was born in the year 1793.  Mr. Reynolds, with his family, started West in 1817, and in December of that year settled in Perry County, Ohio.  After living in that county thirteen years, he removed with his family to Swan Township, which he then formed a part of Hocking County.  Mr. Reynolds had, since that time, lived on the same farm, and had seen a tract of country changed from a wilderness to fruitful fields and pleasant homes.  McArthurstown was at that time about fifteen years of age.  Mt. Pleasant and Illsboro were not; and the "Puritan Fathers" looked upon New Plymouth as a sickly plant.  Much of the land in the northern part of the county had not been "entered," and roads across the country were few and unworked.  Mr. Reynolds lived to see almost all his old neighbors pass away nearly two generations having come and gone since he moved to the farm on which he died.  The most remarkable feature in the history of this family is its longevity.  Mr. Reynolds was in his ninety-third year at the time of his death, in June, 1883.  Mr. Reynolds is now in her ninetieth.  They had fourteen children, all of whom were living up to 1882.  In that year a daughter, Rachel, died, being the first death in the family.  Henry Reynolds, of McArthur, is the oldest son, being now in his seventy-first year.  George, the second son, is a citizen of Swan Township; Samuel, the third son, is now living in Iowa; Isaac, the fourth, is a resident of Kansas.  Six daughters live in this county, three of whom are married.  Elizabeth is the relict of Silas Wilson, and mother of George W. and Dennison Wilson, of Zaleski; Sarah is the relict of Harrison Foster, and lives in Iowa; Lydia is the relict of the late H. H. Swaim, of Elk township; Mary Ann is the wife of Henry Schlotterback, of Swan Township; Mariah is the wife of Charles M. Sidman, living near Nelsonville, in Athens County; Lucinda is the wife of Presley Wright, who lives in Iowa; Cordelia is the wife of E. H. Waller, of Swan Township.  Anna and Susan live with their mother in Swan Township.  The youngest child is now forty-five years old, and the average age of parents an children at the death of the first member of the family, in 1882, was sixty-two years.

AN INTERESTING LETTER.

     The author of this work received from Mr. George W. Shockey, formerly a citizen of Vinton County, but now of Washington, D. C., a letter in which were some references to old times in McArthur, and form which a few extracts are here given.
     He said:
     "I was born in Athens county, Ohio, now Vinton County, in the year 1822, and can recollect many of the first settlers of Elk Township.  My grandfather, Frederic Snyder, came from Hampshire County, Va., in the year 1821, and settled on the farm at Vinton County, Va., in the year 1821, and settled on the farm at Vinton Station, three miles east of McArthur.  He was a farmer, and also had learned the carpenter's trade.  Several years after, he removed to Ross County, and died at teh ripe age of ninety yeas.  His son, Smith Snyder, came from the same county in Virginia, and in the same year married Miss Rachel Fry, and made a settlement on the farm now owned by Charles Brown.  He built a saw and grist mill on Raccoon Creek near his house, which were run successfully for many years.
     "Jacob Shockey, a pioneer, was a native of Berkley County, Va., and moved to Vinton County (at that time Athens) in 1821.  He first arrived at Chillicothe, ,but in the same year moved to Elk township, Vinton County, one and a half miles east of McArthur, on Congress land, then known as the old Will field, but now owned by Henry Robbins.  At that time Elk Township was almost a wilderness, with the exception of one or two acres.  This settlement was a bark, wild forest of heavy timber, in which many wild beasts of the forest loved to roam at large.  Near by and on the farm were several rock houses and a saltpeter cave.  Not far off was also an alum cave, and many deer licks and a wild-cat den.  It was treed and shot by Stephen Martin in sight of the court-house in McArthur.  There were numerous wild animals in and about McArthur since my recollection, such as bear, deer, wolves, catamounts, wild cat, foxes, coon, and other smaller animals.  A few years after, Mr. Shockey bought a piece of Congress land now known as Howell estate, then sold it and purchased another place, known as the Purkey place, one and half miles northeast of McArthur.  From there he moved to McArthur, and after all the hardships of pioneer life - of a new and unsettled country redeemed from a wilderness, a family of seven reared, educated and provided for, and after living to see the march of civilization and modern improvements take the place of the Indians and wild beasts of the forest - he was destined, just as peace, prosperity and contentment had found an abiding place in his home, to cross the mystic river and join those who had gone before, leaving an honored name and an unblemished reputation.  He died at the age of sixty-eight.

"NAMES OF EARLY SETTLERS.

     "Robert Sage, Hiram Hulbert, Jacob Shry, Rachel Snyder, James Pilcher, John England, David Evans, Charles Bevington, David Culbertson, Michael Swaim, Moses Dawson, Eli and Cyrus Catlin, David Markwood, George Fry (Senior), Isaac Shry, William Hoffhines, John Wyman, Levi Wyman, James Robbins, Philip Kelch, John Winters, John Morrisson, Lewis Benjamin, Samuel and Jacob Calvin, James Bothwell, Richard McDougal, Thomas Johnson and Nathan Horton.  I think there were never any block houses in Vinton County.  There were two water-mills on Elk Fork of Raccoon Creek, built by Moses Dawson as early as 1820.  One one the farm now owned by Henry Robbins one and a half mile east of McArthur, and other, one mile northeast of McArthur on the same stream, known now as the Gold ill."
     This closes the most important part of Mr. Schockey's letter.
     There is a brother of the writer living in the county, Mr. Jno. J. Shockey, who has served as Sheriff on the county, etc., whose name will be found among the list of County Officials, and another brother of the writer, Wm. M. Shockey, was a minister of the Methodist church, who was highly esteemed for his talent and worth, but who died at the early age of thirty-two years, his death occurring in 1860.

POLITICAL MOVEMENT

     Soon after the organization of the county the commissioners called an election for county officers. As the then county of Vinton was composed of no less than parts of five counties it was hard to form an idea of the political complexion of the county.  The Whigs and Democrats at once began to move for party lines, and there was also an independent movement which proposed a joint convention of Whigs and Democrats, each taking half of the ticket.  This latter was managed by a few shrewd men, who were good wirepullers, and they got their names on the ticket.  This, however, is a little ahead; a meeting was called, a convention to meet and form a union ticket.

THE FIRST COUNTY CONVENTION.

     This meeting was held on the 6th of April, 1850, at McArthur, for the purpose of nominating candidates to fill the various offices of the new county of Vinton.  The convention was composed of a Democrat and a Whig from each township in the county, except Clinton and Eagle.  The proceedings manifested the utmost unanimity of feeling, and there was an evident desire to avoid party feeling, and to allay anything like local or sectional prejudices; and it was evident that not a single delegate left the meeting dissatisfied with the proceedings, or with any other feeling than that of perfect satisfaction at the results.  The ticket nominated was emphatically a union one, being composed of five Democrats and five Whigs, selected by a convention of both parties, in which nine of the eleven townships were fairly represented.  The Democrats were given the first choice of officers.  They chose D. Richmond for Treasurer, whereupon he was nominated by acclamation.  The Whigs then selected Thomas Davis for Auditor, who was also nominated by acclamation.  It was then agreed to give the Democratic delegates the choice of sheriff, two commissioners and recorder; whereupon they selected the following candidates for Commissioners:  Almond Soule and Patrick Murdock; Sheriff, W. Brady; Recorder, Joel A. Walden.  To the Whig delegates was given the choice of candidates for commissioner, surveyor, coroner and prosecuting attorney; whereupon, they selected as follows:  Commissioner, A. Curry; Surveyor, W. M. Boles; Coroner, A. L. Beard;  Prosecuting Attorney, John A. Browne.  The meeting then confirmed all nominations unanimously.
     There was later a ticket nominated which was known as the county ticket, and the candidates were:  Commissioners, A. Soule, Jr., L. S. Payne, Andrew Curry; for Treasurer, Henry Payne; for Auditor, Joseph Magee; for Sheriff, Francis Shades; for Recorder, James Malone; for Surveyor, William St. Clair; for Prosecuting Attorney, Thomas

THE FIRST WILL.

     recoded in Vinton County after its organization was that of Benjamin Stevens, and reads as follows:

"BENJAMIN STEVEN'S WILL.

     "In the name of the Benevolent Father of all, I, Benjamin Stevens, of the county of Vinton, and the State of Ohio, do make and publish this my list and testament.
     "I then first give and devise to my beloved wife, Lydia, the farm on which we now reside, situated in Elk Township, Vinton Co., Ohio, containing about 120 acres, during her natural life, and all the stock, Household goods, furniture, provisions and other goods and chattels which may be thereon at the time of my decease during her natural life as aforesaid, she, however, selling so much thereof as may be sufficient to pay my just debts.  At the death of my said wife, the real estate aforesaid, and such part of the personal property or the proceeds there of as may there remain unconsumed and unexpended, I give and devise to my three children, viz.: Robert Stevens, Lavilla Stevens and Priscilla Stevens, each to share and share alike.  I do hereby revoke all former wills by me made.  In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 15th day of June, in the year 1850.
                                                                                                  BENJAMIN STEVENS
     Signed and acknowledged by said Benjamin Stevens, as his last will and testament in our presence, and signed by us in his presence.
                                                                                                  "AQUILA WEBB,
                                                                                                  "WILLIAM CARSON,
                                                                                                               his
                                                                                                   "ISAAC + HAWK.
                                                                                                              mark.

COUNTY JAIL.

     The commission met May 14, 1851 (Paine and Curry being present), to take steps toward the erection of a county jail, and ordered published in the Vinton County Republican for four weeks the following notice.:
     "Notice to Contractors - Sealed proposals will be received by the commissioners of Vinton County, at the auditor's office in McArthur, until the 12th day of June, A. D. 1851, for building a brick jail and jailor's dwelling in the town of McArthur.  The building will be let to the lowest and bet bidder, who will be required to give sufficient security to said commissioners for the performance of the work.  Plans, specifications and terms of said building can be seen at the auditor's office.   The commissioners will be in session at the auditor's office on said 12th day of June, to enter into contract with the person or persons who may be deemed the lowest and best bidders for building the jail."
     Wednesday, May 22, the commissioners purchased of S. H. Brown forty-two feet of the east side of lot number 67, for the purpose of locating thereon the jail and jailor's dwelling for Vinton County, paying therefor $150.  The sale was duly consummated June 2, the county purchasing an additional strip two feet wide and ten rods long of lot number 67, for $20, making $170 paid for the whole site.
     The bids received were:  F. A. McLain, $3,999; John Lod, $3,500; Farr & Yager, $4,500; L. S. Bort, $3,899; Richmond & Archer, $3,474; Albert Lake, $3,398; Robbins & Dill  $4,000.
     Mr. Lake finally declining to make a contract the work was awarded Richmond & Archer at their bid, and the latter executed bonds in accordance with the contract, and went to work, the commissioners allowing them an advance payment of $740.  In-lots Nos. 63, and 64, which had been donated to the town by the original proprietors for court-house purposes, were accepted by the

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commissioners at a special meeting Jan. 27, 1852.  It was intended for court-house, jail and market-house, and the site of hte jail was changed and a new contract entered into the Evans Archer.

ITEMS.

     The Methodist church was rented for a court-room for the year 1854.
     The county purchased a safe for the use of the Treasurer, Henry Payne, in 1856, at a cost of $112.93 delivered in McArthur.  In September of the same year the court-house bell was purchased at an expense of $270.
     The new court-house was completed December, 1856, and accepted by the commissioners.  The sheriff and prosecuting attorney were assigned the southeast room, now forming part of the auditor's office, and the others are using about the same offices as then assigned them.
     In June, 1858, the assessment districts were changed to single townships, each of the municipal divisions having its own assessor, and numbered from one to twelve.
     On June 7, 1859, a new treasurer's safe was purchased at a cost of $1,000, of Dodd & Co., they to take the old one at $105.  It was paid for in installments.

MINERAL INTERESTS.

     A glance at the map of the State is sufficient to show the important geographical position of this county in regard to the mineral region in Southeastern Ohio.  The townships of Wilkesville, Clinton, Richland, Elk, Swan and Brown are all embraced within the celebrated belt of mineral lands known as the "lower coal series," lying between the conglomerate and calcareo-silicious or burr stone strata.  Their valleys, table-lands and hills are sufficiently elevated to embrace all the several layers of workable coal, limestone, iron ore, the pure quartz or millstone rock, sandstone and shale.  They embrace, also, a group of associated minerals which, when a means of cheap transportation shall have been furnished, will be sources of exhaustless wealth, not only to the citizens of the county, but to the whole State.

COAL AND IRON ORE.

     The coal fields of Vinton County underlie nearly three fourths of its surface, and iron ore is in the same beds and is inexhaustible in quantity.  From the summit coming down into the valley of Rac-

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coon Creek you strike the iron and coal ledges that fill the hills.  Before you leave the crest of hte hill many feet in your downward course, iron ore crops out in large quantities, and there is no end to the best of potter's clay.  This valley of Raccoon Creek leads to McArthur, growing wider as it nears the town.  In this the coal field is reached when within about five miles of McArthur, and the hills are full of it, a splendid quality, some being the Jackson coal, noted for it superior quality.  This Jackson coal is found in other parts of the county, and no less than three veins of ore are found above it.  One known as the Dunkle vein, is from one to four feet in thickness, and lies under the limestone or Winter's vein of coal.  Over the Winter's vein lies the gray limestone ore than is considered the best of the three veins; but this last is not regular, being found more or less in pockets, in some places even nine feet thick, but as above remarked, its irregular deposit gives the other two veins as the most profitable to work.
     Raccoon Creek Valley and Elk Fork are noted for the coal that abounds in the hills through which they run.  All the hills around McArthur for miles are filled with coal, lime and iron.  There are two strata of coal above the water level, the upper generally about twenty or twenty-five feet above the other.  Nearly all of these veins are from four to six feet deep, of the very best quality of coal.  Northeast of McArthur the veins run from three and a half, five and a half to six or seven feet in thickness.  On Dr. Wolf's farm on Elk Fork, the Jackson coal has been found from six to fifteen feet below the surface, and from three to five feet in thickness.  Northeast from the town it is found at the depth of sixty feet, and over that a vein or iron ore from two to three feet thick, and then comes the limestone, and oer that the limestone ore, in some places running eight feet in thickness.

GEOLOGICAL REPORT.

     In this connection, however, the conclusion of the report, or rather the summary of the geological report made in 1870, in reference to Vinton County may be appropriate here.  In closing, speaking of Vinton County, it says:
     "The county is rich in iron ore and coal.  The better ore, as a general thing, is the so-called 'limestone ore,' or the ore resting on ferriferous limestone.  This remarkable limestone is found in five townships, viz.:  Madison, Elk, Clinton, Vinton and Wilkesville.  The northern limit of the limestone presents a ragged outline, and very often the limestone is replaced by burr or flint.  The north-

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ern limit is found in Madison and Elk townships.   At one point in Brown Township, a little limestone was found, which further investigation may prove to be the geological equivalent of the ferriferous limestone.  If so, it is only a local deposit.  It is a fact of no little interest that this limestone never reappears in our lower coal measures in the northern part of the Second District.  There is a limestone in the First District called the 'gray limestone,' which may, perhaps, hereafter be found to correspond proximately in stratigraphical position to the ferriferous limestone.
     "North of Elk and Madison townships we find the Nelsonville coal, but in other important particulars the strata in the northern part of Vinton County do not correspond with those of the southern part.  This dissimilarity has been formerly noticed by our intelligent furnace men, who in their explorations between the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad and the Hocking River, report themselves as 'lost' in their geological calculations.
     "There is, doubtless, much good ore of the block and kidney varieties north and west of the limits of the 'limestone ore,' but as there have been no furnaces to create a market, comparatively little exploration has been made.  The 'limestone ore' in Elk and the more southern townships is often very thick and of very fine quality.  The Craig ore, already described, is also a very excellent ore, and very rich in iron.  There is ore enough in the county to supply many furnaces for a long time to come.
     "The best coal found as yet is the 'Wolfe Coal,' in Elk township.  I have no doubt that this coal in its raw state will make iron.  The seam lies quite low in the valley, and for the most part is below the bed of the stream, but it may, perhaps, be found over a considerable area by sinking shafts.  The county is generally well supplied with coal suited for all household and ordinary uses.
     "The blue, or Putnam Hill, limestone is generally well developed, but it is mostly too earthy to make it to valuable material for quick-lime.  In the neighborhood of McArthur it is hard and susceptible of a good polish, but will not compete with marble for ornamental purposes."

AGRICULTURAL AND STOCK STATISTICS

     The crop statistics of Vinton have changed much since it became a county.  This has resulted from the development of the mineral resources of the county.  While the population of the county has increased the agricultural productions and stocks have decreased.  This is a mistake, especially as regards stock.  Whether the mineral productions increase or not, it would be found on trial that stock-raising might be heavily increased without risking the aggregate of mining interests.  It looks as if a period of depression had set in upon the agricultural and stock industries of the county,

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and that something should be done to prevent a still more disastrous retrogade movement.  The figures given are not calculated to be a source of pride or congratulation for the people.

CROP REPORTS.

     In 1858 the wheat crop was 13,463 acres, 148,148 bushels.  In 1858 the corn, 14,586 acres, 454,898 bushels.  In 1862 the wheat crop was 11,156 acres, 216,866 bushels.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

     The crop statistics of Vinton have changed much since it became a county.  This has resulted from the development of the mineral resources of the county.  While the population of the county has increased the agricultural productions and stocks have decreased.  This is a mistake, especially as regards stock.  Whether the mineral productions increase or not, it would be found on trial that stock-raising might be heavily increased without risking the aggregate of mining interests.  It looks as if a period of depression had set in upon the agricultural and stock industries of the county,

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and that something should be done to prevent a still more disastrous retrogade movement.  The figures given are not calculated to be a source of pride or congratulation  for the people.

CROP REPORTS

     In 1858 the wheat crop was 13, 463 acres, 148,148 bushels.  In 1858 the corn, 14, 586 acres, 454, 898 bushels.  In 1862 the wheat crop was 11,156 acres, 216,866 bushels.

1867.

STOCK STATISTICS.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

1870.

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1875

1880

REAL ESTATE VALUATION.

1882

RAILROADS.

     There is a total of 63-3/4 miles of main track of railroad in Vinton County, and 8.59 miles of siding.  The valuation of railroad property in the county for the year 1882 amounted ti $530,781, and the tax levy on the same was $9,622.62

COUNTY INFIRMARY.

     Vinton County had on its organization but one pauper that demanded aid.  This was Elizabeth Chapman, of Jackson Township, for which the county commissioners made provision for her support at its first session in April, 1850.  It was some years before the necessity of a county infirmary was demanded, only from two or three to five being the largest number of paupers cared for in any one year for the first decade of the county's existence.  While the poor had been taken care of in their respective townships, and the bills or expense paid by the county, some few it was found necessary to keep at a public institution.  Robert Burnes and Jonas Robbins were kept at the Athens County Infirmary at the contract price of $5 per week for clothes and board from June, 1859.  It was not until 1863 that a poor tax was levied for the support of paupers in the county and for a fund to invest in a poor farm.  The levy was 10 cents on the dollar, valuation of real and personal property, and the same levy was made in 1864.  In 1865 the commissioners decided to purchase a farm, and contracted for land of David Pinney and Elias P. Davis, the former to receive $4,200 and the latter $3,800, of which $2,700 to the former and $2,300 to the latter was to be cash.  The Pinney contract was annulled and Davis held good, the farm being transferred to the county.  This, however, proved far from satisfactory.  The farm did not suit, and an invitation to make bids for erecting infirmary buildings was not even responded to by a single bidder.  This put the matter in a serious light, for without buildings the farm was not wanted, and as it stood, the people refusing to endorse it, the property was sold by the county to Elisha Whitlatch for $3,500, $1,000 cash and the balance in equal annual installments, one and two years, at six per cent, interest on the deferred payments.  This was a loss of $300 on the original purchase.
     The question of purchasing a poor farm was submitted to the people of Vinton County at the general election in October, 1871.  The result was over a two-thirds vote in its favor, and is here given by townships:

     The Ullum farm, about one mile north of McArthur, was selected, comprising 322 acres of excellent land handsomely located, and paying for the same$37 per acre, or $11,914.

INFIRMARY BUILDING.

     The announcement was made that bids would be received Jan. 31, 1873, for erecting an infirmary building on the farm, and bids were received from: C. W. Holland, $25,000; W. McCoy, $10,800; O. W. Gilman, $9,945; Lander Sprague, $8,993; G. W. Pilcher, $8,989; Harry Zimmerman, $8,975.  The contract was given to O. W. Gilman, and he completed the building the following year, 1874.  If is a two-story brick building shaped like the letter L with a frontage of ninety feet.  It is rather an imposing building, well arranged for the use required, and cost the county, furnished complete, $16,237.83.  There has since been added an addition for the insane at a cost of $984, but as the main building far exceeded the original contract price this addition is likely to follow in proportion to its amounts, and will probably reach $1,500 beside the furniture before completed, as it is at this writing in course of erection.

ITS SUPERINTENDENTS.

     The first Superintendent of the poor farm was James Dennison, who, however, only held the position three months, moving to Missouri.  He was succeeded by John T. Robb.  November, 1876, Mr. Robb retied after two years' service and was followed by William Whitlatch, who has proved a very competent person and has held the position to the present time.  The average number of inmates per year has been fifty-five; at this time, however, thee one but forty-eight.

END OF CHAPTER XLII.

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