Pg. 142 -

     SOME RECOLLECTIONS - A Letter written by Michael McCoy and an interview with James H. Darling throw additional light on the life at the salt works.  Michael McCOY, who spent the last fifty years of his life in this county, furnished his recollections for The Standard a few years before his death, and they are worth preserving.  He was born in Lawrence county, O., Jan. 22, 1800.  He removed with his parents to this county in 1816, and lived in Hamilton township until his death, Nov. 8, 1869.  Following are the most interesting passages from his letters:  We came to this county in the spring of 1816.  We landed on the 17th of April and settled near where Jacob Brown now (1866) lives.  At that time there were but two houses where the town of Jackson now stands, and they were taverns.  One was down below where the Isham House stable now stands, and the other was down towards where Steel's (Ruf's) tanyard now is.  These taverns were kept by Abraham Welch and Jared Strong.  There were five salt furnaces in operation at that time, run by Ross Nelson, John Johnson, John W. Sargent, Asa Lake and William Givens.
     I suppose there were some five or six hundred voters in Jackson County.  Abraham Welch was the first sheriff of Jackson county, and Nathaniel W. Andrews was the first clerk of courts.
     Welch and a man named Wilson, and another named Squires, and another, whose name I will not give, as he has some relatives yet living in this county, got to making counterfeit money, and they all left the county except Squires, and he was sent to the penitentiary.  For some cause Andrews resigned as clerk, or was removed, and a man named Charles O'Neil was the next clerk.  He afterward died of consumption.  O'Neil's widow married Vincent Southard.  Dr. Andrews was again appointed clerk, and held the office until he removed to Portsmouth.  Absalom M. Faulkner was clerk and held the office until he died.
     Colonel Strong had the contract for building the old Court House for $7,000 ($4,061).  This much I know: The brick was made in 1820, not far from where Pearl street and Broadway cross.  I do not think the wall of the Court House was built until 1821.  What makes me think so is, that the Elias Long house was built in 1820 by a man named Gibbs.  I made and carried the mortar for more than two-thirds of that house; Nathan Sheward carried the brick.  We worked for 50 cents a day, or at least the promise of it.  I never got over half my pay.  The same year that little checkered brick by Noel's tanyard was built by a man named Puffenbarger.  I made and carried the mortar for that building from foundation to the top; same wages and same pay.  Both men broke up, and I had to take just what I could get.  There were two wells of salt water near Jackson in 1816, one owned by Asa Lake, not far from the bridge crosses Salt creek on the Chillicothe road.  The furnace was out on the road not far from where George L. Crookham built some years afterward.  There was another well not far from where Diamond Furnace is now located, belonging to William Givens.  The furnace was on Givens' Run, in a southwest direction from town.  The courts continued to be held in private houses until 1824 or 1825, maybe as late as 1826, when the old Court House was taken possession of by Ezra Osborne, president judge of this circuit.  I was at the first day's sale of the lots in the town of Jackson.  A shed made of plank was put up on the public square.  Joseph Armstrong was director of the town of Jackson.  Joseph W. Ross was the crier, or auctioneer, and Richard Johnson was the clerk of the sale.  The highest priced lot was bought by Daniel Hoffman, where he afterwards lived and died.  The next highest lot sold was where Noel's tanyard was located.  It was sold to a man named Henry Kiger.  Robert Lucas and Elisha Fitch, from Piketon, were prominent bidders for lots at that sale.  Now, I will give you a sketch of the wild aspect of things about Jackson when the first lots were sold.  True, there was a great deal of timber cut for the salt furnaces, and in some places the young growth had started considerably.  There were three or four public roads that led to Jackson, the Gallipolis and Chillicothe road, the Athens road and the Piketon road.  The letter was made for the purpose of hauling corn from the Big Scioto to the salt works.  Then there was a track that was called the Guyan trace, along which hundreds of bushels of salt were packed to the Ohio river.  That trace left town where Nelson's Furnace was located.  It ran a south course and crossed the divide near where Irwin's station now is.  It then ran southward to the Adkins place, from there to old Joseph Price's, crossed the Black Fork of Symmes creek, then crossed Dirty Face near Philip Lambert's mill, then up Sweet Bit, crossed the Dry Ridge road, went down a run and crossed Symmes creek near where old Henry McDaniel lived, then up Long creek, and crossing Greasy Ridge ran down Trace Fork to the forks of Indian Guyan, now Scott town; thence south or nearly so to Guyandotte.  Many a Red Man of the Forest has traversed that path."  Some of the above statements are inaccurate.  The description of the old Guyan trace is the only one that I have been able to find.  This was the famous Indian highway from Virginia to the Shawanese towns on the Scioto, and it had been in use for centuries when the whites entered the country.  Many a white captive has toiled along this trail, every step taking him nearer to the spot where he was to die at the stake.  Many a young child, unable to keep up with its captors, was slain on this trail and left for wild beasts to feed upon, as in the case of the little daughter of Mrs. Martin already mentioned.