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HISTORY OF THE CICADA, OR SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST.
Pg 127

     After the first settlement on Leading creek, in the year 1812, the cicada made their appearance and periodically in seventeen-years subsequently, as in 1812, 1829, 1846 and 1880.  There seemed to be districts or locations where the locusts were seen in great numbers in these seventeen year dates.  The east and west lines between these two districts crossed the Ohio river near the mouth of Old Town creek, thence back into West Virginia at or near Racine, Ohio, and back into Ohio at Silver run, passing north of Cheshire in Gallia county and moving on to Scioto county.  There is a curiosity about the line of the two districts that they continued nearly straight without regard to the crooked Ohio river.  They made their first appearance from the 15th to the 20th of May, according to warmth or coolness of the season, and remained about forty-five days before they all disappeared.  The males belong to the "drum corps," while the female pierces the small twigs and limbs of trees and deposits her eggs.  These in due time fall upon the earth, where they remain for another period of seventeen years, to mature their growth for a few days' work in the sunshine which seems necessary to continue the existence of their species.
     These cicada were destructive to young orchards as well as other green and growing shrubs.  A gentleman in Lebanon township had an orchard of choice variety of apples, and hearing of these "seventeen year locusts" just coming into notice, turned his flock of a hundred geese into his orchard who, devouring the pests as they came up form the ground, protected and preserved his fruit trees from any damage.
     When the first settlers came to Ohio they found great numbers of wild turkeys, a large bird seen in flocks in the woods, but harmless in every way.  In the fall of the year men of the settlement caught them in pens built of rails form the fence near by, and generally placed on a side hill, and were about three feet high, and covered with rails.   Then a low place dug at the lower side of the pen, and extending under, just large enough for a turkey to enter, would be strewed with a little shelled corn, leading into the pen where more corn would be scattered inside.  The turkey eating followed the trail into the pen, and one after another all would go in.  When they wanted to go out, their heads would be up, never looking down at the entrance hole.  A man with a club would go in, even where the turkeys did, and kill all, or as many as he desired.  The meat was fine, and frequently a very large fowl would be with the flock, so that they furnished many a good dinner for an emigrant's family.  The feathers were not elastic or fluffy, though some attempts were made to use them for beds and pillows, while the wings and tail feathers were serviceable for fans and dusters.
     The pheasant and quail remained here all the year, but crows and blackbirds seen in large numbers in the spring and summer, migrated in the fall.  The wild pigeons passed over in vast numbers when going north or south, in the early or late season.  Large flocks would sometimes tarry for a while in the fall and select a roosting place, where might be seen pigeons coming form every direction to stay all night.  Men would sometimes visit those roosts at night and capture many birds, which were used for food.
     The wild goose was often seen by the early settlers, on their yearly migration from the lakes and swamps of the South to the lakes and swamps of the North, fleeing the approach of cold weather in each case.  They moved in large flocks, with a leader to direct their course, following in a closed-up column in a triangular shape obeying the command - a singular "honk," uttered by the leader.  Southern Ohio was neutral ground, as none stopped, except a few that by weakness or some unknown reason strayed from the company.
     The crane was a very large bird, not numerous, though frequently seen in warm weather.
     The large owl remained in this climate during the year, and the small owl - "screech owl" - were noted for their habits of taking chickens from the roosts at night.  The large owl made a peculiar "hoot" at nightfall.
     The hawk was another invader of the domestic fowls, in broad daylight swooping down on a brood of young chickens and seizing one in his talons, fly away from the distracted mother hen, and only to be halted by the unerring aim of the rifle-man.
     It is not certain when bees were discovered by the first emigrants.  The hunters were men with strong eyes so that they could see a bee in flight, and follow it to the tree where the honey was made and stored, and chopping down the tree to secure the honey was the sweet reward of the hunters' sight and patience.  Hollow gums were used for domesticating bees, and some farmers made hives with ropes of straw, sewed together so as to form a conical shaped hive for bees.  Boxes were made afterwards for the same purpose, until the bee moth became so destructive that other kinds of hives were invented and patented for the protection and raising of bees.
     Few of the fist settlers of Rutland were hunters and did not use guns.  Many of the New England men, also those from New York, were carpenters, and a few were millwrights.  The first thing to use was an ax, then something to draw wood.  If by oxen, a yoke with a ring in it, to which a hook in a chain Lengthened out to fasten around the end of a log securely to draw to the place desired.
     If horses were used, then ropes or strips of rawhide were fastened to wooden hames, which served as collars.  Sleds were first used, then carts, but wagons were not in general use for many years, except by some wealthy farmers.  In the house, the woman was furnished with a split brush broom.  These brooms were made of a hickory pole by cutting and peeling down with a knife splits from the end to make the broom.  The broom corn of later years was not known in those early days.  A chest served for a table till some mill was started and boards were available.  so that cross-legged tables were made and shelves placed upon pins driven into the logs.  A few spiders and pots to cook with and pewter plates to eat from completed the assortment.  Some families had provided themselves with home conveniences by bringing things needful form their former homesteads, but the majority of those first settlers had even camp life for a while.  Good housewives who had brought pewter plates form "away back east" could not give them up without protest to the daughter's innovation of a lot of porcelain ware.  It was claimed that the knives would all be dull if used on such plates.
     Mr. Daniel Rathburn, who was a carpenter, built a frame barn without nails.  He put everything together with wooden pins.  This was the first frame barn erected on Leading creek.
     Wheat was cut with sickles and threshed with flails,, and the grain winnowed by a sheet held by two Men, who employed the wind and their united force to clear the chaff from the grain.

     SALT

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     In giving an account of this indispensable article I will introduce an extract from the Life of Griffin Green, by S. P. Hildreth.  "In 1794, when salt was worth from $5 - $8 a bushel, he projected an expedition into the Indian country bear the Scioto river for the discovery of the salt springs said to be worked by the savages near the present town of Jackson.  At the hazard of his life and all those with him, or twelve in number, he succeeded in finding the saline water and boiled some of it down on the spot in their camp kettle, making about a tablespoonful of salt.  While here he narrowly escaped death from the rifle of an Indian who discovered them, unobserved by the party.  After peace was concluded, this warrior related the circumstance of his raising his rifle twice to fire at a tall man who had a tin cup strung to his girdle on his loins and who was known to be Mr. Green.  As he might miss his object, being a long shot, and be killed himself, he desisted and hurried back to the Indian village below the present town of Chillicothe for aid.  A party of twenty warriors turned out in pursuit and came on to the bank of the Ohio at Leading creek a few minutes after the whites had left it with their boat and were in the middle of the river.  They were seen by the men in the boat, who felt how narrowly and providentially they had escaped."
     The first settlers here got their salt from these Scioto salt works.  The writer remembers hearing his father tell of taking a horse and pack saddle and going to the "Scioto Licks," as they were then called and working a week for a sack of salt.  His business was drawing salt water by means of a hand pole affixed to a sweep above.  After receiving his wages, put his salt on the pack saddle and made his way home.  Those salt works were under the superintendency of a state officer, and by a law passed Jan. 24th, 1804, renters had to pay a tax of 4 cents per gallon on the capacity of the kettle used in making salt, provided always that no person or company shall under any pretense whatever be permitted to use at any time a greater number of kettles or vessels than will contain 4000 gallons, nor a less number in any one furnace than 600 gallons.  After the salt works on the Kanawha were started the people here depended on Kanawha for salt, and for many years it was a place of considerable trade.  Young men, on coming of age, went to Kanawha to chop wood or tend kettles when they wished to obtain a little money.  It was hardly expected to get money at any other place, and salt seemed to be the medium by which trade was conducted.
     Keelboats were used as a means of transportation, and shipments were made by them of salt to Marietta, Pittsburg and the lower Ohio.  In order to give some knowledge of the origin and progress of the Kanawha salt business, we append a letter which appeared in the Niles Register, Baltimore, Md., in April 1815, and we copy from the Meigs County Telegraph, April 1815, and we copy from the Meigs County Telegraph, April, 1884.

KENAWHA SALT WORKS.

     At the first settlement of this place there was a great "buffalo lick," as it was called, was called, was discovered where some weak salt water oozed out of the bank of the river.  After some time the inhabitants sunk hollow gums into the sand and gravel at that place, into  which the water collected, but it was so weak that, although sufficient quantities might be collected, not more than two to four bushels were made in a day.  After the property came into the possession of my brother, Joseph Ruffner, and myself (by divisee), we were desirous to see the effect of sinking large sycamore gums as low down as we could force them.  We found great difficulty in this on account of the water coming in so rapidly.  When we got down about eighteen feet below the surface of the river we discovered that our gums lodged on a solid, smooth freestone rock, and the water was but little improved as we descended.  We then bored a hole in the rock about 2½ inches in diameter, the size generally used subsequently for that purpose.  After penetrating the rock eighteen or twenty feet, we struck a vein of water saltier than had been attained in this place before.  Our neighbors followed our example and succeeded in obtaining good salt water in the distance of 2½ miles below and four miles above us on the river.  They all have to sink the bums about eighteen feet to the rock, into which they bore a hole from 100 to 200 feet deep.  The rock is never perforated, though the water seeps into the holes in soft or porous places.  The cost of boring was from $3 to $4 a foot.  The first water that is struck in the augur hole is fresh, or an inferior quality of salt water, which is excluded by means of copper or tin tubes put down into the augur hole and secured so that none of the water that comes in above the lower end of the tube can discharge itself into the gum, which has a bottom put into it immediately upon the rock, and is secured in such a manner that no water can get into the tube except that which comes up through the tube from below.  The water thus gathered in the gum rises about as high as the surface of the river at high water mark, and it requires from seventy to 100 gallons of it to make a bushel of salt.  Each well produced on an average a sufficient quantity of water to make 300 bushels of salt per day.  There are now established and in operation fifty-two furnaces, and more are being erected, containing from forty to sixty kettles of thirty five gallons each, which make from 2500 to 3000 bushels of salt per day.  The quantity may be increased as the demand shall justify.  The wood in the course of time must become scarce or difficult to obtain, but we have stone coal that can be used for fuel, and the supply is inexhaustible.  These works are situated six miles above Charleston, Kanawha Courthouse, sixty-six miles from the mouth of the river and twenty-six miles below the great falls.  The river is navigable, with a gentle current, at all seasons for boats of any size.
     Your obedient, humble servant,     DAVID RUFFNER.
     Kanawha Salt Works, November 8th, 1814.

     It appears from old account books that salt rated as high as $2 per bushel in Rutland township as late ass 1820.  The first salt water seen on Leading creek was a small pond of reddish water, which in dry weather cattle would visit for a drink, the place being near the channel of the creek, about a quarter of a mile below the old Denny mill, in a bend of Leading creek.  In 1820 several of the neighbors brought in their kettles and set them on a kind of furnace and made of that water one bushel of salt.  After which a company was formed consisting of Benjamin Stout, Caleb Gardner, Thomas Shepherd and Michael Aleshire, who bored a well and erected a furnace and commenced making salt in 1822, when Benjamin Stout bought out the other parties.
     In 1822 Abijah Hubbell and his son, Jabez Hubbell, and Barsley Hubbell bored a salt well above the Stout well and a furnace set for making salt in 1824.
     Ruel Braley manufactured salt at his works, five miles above on Leading creek, in 1830.
     The Bradford and Stedman's furnace was located about five miles below the Stout well in 1830 or 1831.
     Still further down the creek Theophilus Jacobs operated a furnace for a few years with a great deal of energy.
     Near the mouth of Thomas Fork Herriman Plummer bored a well and made salt in 1831.
     Two other salt wells had been previously attempted in Rutland township but failed to obtain salt water.  One was bored by Joseph Giles, Sr., and the other one was by Samuel Church in 1822, which resulted in the discovery of a heavy lubricating oil, the true value of which was not understood and very little attention was paid to it.
     After the Rutland furnaces began to make 200 bushels of salt per week the price came down to 50 cents a bushel.  After salt was made in large quantities along the Ohio river the works on the creek became unprofitable, and the manufacture of salt was discontinued.

     In 1810 JOSEPH VINING and his brother, Joshua Vining, came with their families from Hartford, Conn., and settled in Rutland township, near the later residence of John B. Bradford.  Timothy, a son of Joseph Vining, was born in Hartford July 24th, 1805.  Joseph Vining died at the age of ninety-one years, and his wife near ninety years. 
     Timothy Vining married Sina Jones, daughter of Charles Jones, and they had a large family - six sons and three daughters.  The six sons were all soldiers for their country.  Mr. Vining died at the age of eighty-seven years ten months and twenty-eight days on May 23rd, 1893.
     Mrs. Sina Vining died at the age of eighty-four years.

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     MRS. JANE JONES, nee McDANIEL, was born and brought up in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, until she was fifteen years old, when she came to Ohio.  When twenty-four years of age she was married to Elijah Jones, of Salisbury township.  They had a family of sons and daughters.
     Mrs. Jones had belonged to the Christian Church for more than fifty years, seven months and nineteen days, and was buried in the Bradford graveyard.

     ABRAHAM WINN moved with family from New York to Canada and from there to Rutland in 1816, and bought a farm on Section 17, where he lived until his death, in 1835, at teh age of sixty-four years.  He left a widow and several children.  Mrs. Winn died in 1860, aged eight-six years.  The children were: Joseph Winn, Sallly, Mrs. Joseph Howell; Jacob Armstrog Winn, Fanny Winn, Mrs. Charles Nobles; Jonathan Winn, Lydia Winn, Mrs. Alexander Stedman; John Winn lived and died in Albany, Athens county, aged eighty-three years; William Winn went to Illinois, Nancy Will, Mrs. Daniel Skinner.

P. 136
     ASAHEL SKINNER and family moved from Maine to Rutland, Ohio, June, 1817.  Mr. Skinner's first wife was Phoebe Gould, who died in September, 1817.  Two of their children remained in the East; the others were: Daniel Skinner, a miller in the southeast part of Rutland; Alona, Mrs. William McKee; Joseph, Joel and William Skinner, Olive, Mrs. John Chase; Isaac Skinner, Edna, Mrs. Hiram Chase; Phebe, Mrs. William Hartinger; Asahel Skinner, David Skinner and Lucinda Skinner. 
     Asahel Skinner married for his second wife Jane, the daughter of Thomas Everton.  Their children were: Lucinda, Mrs. Dr. Clark Rathburn; Elizabeth, Mrs. Alexander Hogue; Calvin, Marinda, Mrs. Metcalf; Samantha, Thomas, Isaac Skinner.  Twenty-two children of Asahel Skinner's family.

P. 137

     DANIEL SKINNER was born in Corinth, Me., in 1801, and moved with his father, Asahel Skinner, to Rutland in May, 1817.  He was a constable one year and township trustee seven years.  He had a numerous family.  His death occurred in 1844.

     THOMAS EVERTON came from Maine in 1800 to Rutland, Ohio; bought land and made a home for his family.  He was a member of the Regular Baptist Church and was familiarly known as "Deacon" Everton.  His children were: Betsy, Mrs. Benjamin Richardson - first wife; Ebenezer Everton, Relief, Mrs. Edwards; Thomas Everton, Jr., Polly, Mrs. Stone; Benjamin Everton, Nancy, Mrs. Jesse W. Stevens; Sally, Mrs. Charles Richardson.

     MRS. LUCINDA PENDEGRASS was born in Conway county, Mass., Aug. 14th, 1793, and was married to Daniel Childs, Apr. 29th, 1813.  They had a family of nine children.  They came to Ohio in 1835.  Mr. Childs died Sept. 21st, 1846.  Later, Mrs. Childs was married to Benjamin Richardson in 1848.  He died in April, 1852.  She lived a widow nearly forty years and departed this life on June 12th, 1892, aged ninety-seven years, nine months and twenty-eight days.  She had led a most exemplary life, a devoted follower of her Lord.  The Bible was her companion, with a remarkable memory.  She read it through thirty-six ties in thirty-six years.  She was a member of the Baptist Church in Pomeroy at the time of her death.

     JOHN SYLVESTER came from Maine and located in Rutland.  He married his second wife, who was a widow of Henry Filkin  They had two children, Sarah and William.  John Sylvester was a son of the first wife, and John Sylvester, Jr., was a grandson of Joseph Sylvester and was noted for his great strength and his skill in wrestling.

P. 138
     JOSEPH GILES lived in Rutland and followed the blacksmith business.  He married Elizabeth Townsend in September, 1822.  She was born in Kennebec county, Me., Mar. 26th, 1803, and came to Scipio, Meigs county, in 1816.
     Mr. Giles died in Rutland in 1873,  Mrs. Joseph Giles died in Middleport, Feb. 18th, 1887, aged eighty-three years, ten months.

     LEMUEL POWELL was born near Steubenville, Ohio, Mar. 28th, 1814.  He was married twice, first to Nancy Sook, and his second wife was Miss Osca Elizabeth Tingley, from near Cincinnati.  Mr. Powell died Jan. 9th, 1894, aged nearly eighty years.

     AARON TORRENCE was born in Allegheny county, Pa., July 5th, 1792, and came to Meigs county in 1809.  He was married to Lucy Hussey in 1823.  She died in 1872.  They had a family of seven children, and had been married forty-nine years.  Mr. Torrence married a second wife in 1873, Mrs. Rachel Horton.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and fought the British at New Orleans.  He lived a conscientious Christian life, a member of the Methodist Church, and died at Bald Knobs, July 18th, 1884, aged ninety-two years and thirteen days.

     WHITTEMORE REED was brought from New Hampshire in 1798, a child, to Orange township, by his mother.  He married Miss Stout and had a family of five sons - Darius, Aaron, Whittemore, Jr., Enos and Sardine.  Darius Reed married Miss Curtis, of Washington county, and engaged in the drug business in Pomeroy.  They had a family - Curtis Reed, a druggist; William Reed, banker, and Helen, the wife of Rev. Thomas Turnbull.  All of these families live in Pomeroy.  Darius Reed and his wife are dead.  Aaron Reed married and settled in Orange, a farmer.  Whittemore, Jr., married Miss Young and moved to Clermont county, a farmer.  Enos Reed was married twice, first to Miss Curtis, and the second wife was Miss Ann Maria Seely.  He was a druggist in Portsmouth, Ohio, but later went to farming.  Sardine Reed graduated from West Point with first honors and bright prospects, married, and died in six months.

     SAMUEL DOWNING came from Waterville, Me., in 1815.  He came overland to Pittsburg and then floated down the Ohio river on a raft or flatboat to Gallipolis, Ohio.  In February, 1818, he removed to Scipio township, Meigs county, where he purchased land and opened a valuable farm.  He was a surveyor and a justice of the peace for many years.  He was an infidel in belief, until in later life he became a zealous Methodist.  When Meigs county was organized, in 1819, the sheriff and commissioners were chosen in April to serve until after the general election in October of that year.  Benjamin Stout, sheriff; Levi Stedman, William Alexander and Elijah Runner, commissioners.  At  October election in 1819the following men were elected for commissioners by drawing of lots.  It was determined that William Alexander should serve one year, Philip Jones two years and Samuel Downing three years.  Mrs. Downing was Hannah Harding before marriage.  They had a numerous family - six sons and one daughter.  According to their ages, they were: Samuel, Jr., George, Rodney, Franklin, Hollis, Harrison and Hannah, the youngest child.  Samuel Downing, Jr., died when quite a young man.  George Downing was born in Waterville, Me., April 25th, 1801.
     George Downing married Harriet Chase.  He was a blacksmith by trade, also a surveyor, and served many years as a justice of the peace.  In 1826 an independent company of militia was organized with Jesse Hubbell for captain, George Downing as lieutenant and Oliver Grant ensign.  After seven years, the officers having served out the time of their commission, the company disbanded.  He was a large, well proportioned man, of great strength.  He was supposed to be the strongest man in southern Ohio.  Many stories were told of remarkable feats of lifting great weights and other exhibitions of strength.  He died July 12th, 1878, aged seventy-seven years and three months.  Mrs. Downing died March 10th, 1890.
   

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