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Perry County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

History of Perry County
by Clement L. Martzolff - Published by Ward & Weiland, New Lexington, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio - Press of Fred J. Heer - 1902

PAGES [1-24]  [25-49]  [49-77]  [77-107]  [107-129]  [129-170]  [170-195]

Meridian Monuments

     Persons visiting the New Lexington Fair have no doubt noticed the two granite monuments situated about the middle of the grounds.  Some have the idea that they mark the geographical center of the county.  This is not the case.  The westward one was planted by Philander Binckley about thirty years ago, to correspond to the true meridian.  On account of the variation of the magnetic pole, it was found necessary in 1898 to again locate it.  The County Commissioners contracted with John Avery to place the new monument.
     He planted it at the south end of the line bearing north 30 degrees, west, 627.8 feet distant from the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of Section No. 5, Tp. No. 15, Range No. 15.
     The geographical latitude is 39 degrees, 44 minutes north.  The geographical longitude is 5 degrees and 11 minutes west from Washington.  The variation of the Magnetic Meridian from the True Meridian is 28 minutes to the north.

Drainage

     Buckeye Lake and three rivers receive the waters of Perry county.  These rivers are the Scioto, the Muskingum and the Hocking.  Walnut Creek, a tributary of the Scioto has one of its sources in the western part of Thorn township.  The Big Swamp originally discharged its waters into the Licking river, and is therefore a part of the Muskingum basin.  The principal stream emptying into Buckeye Lake is Honey Creek.  All four of the drainage systems, as far as Perry county is concerned, have their sources in Thorn township.  Walnut Creek flows toward the west.  Honey Creek to the north.  Jonathan or the Moxahala to the east and Rushcreek to the south.  Hopewell township is drained by Jonathan and Rushcreek.  Madison is drained by Jonathan.  The principal tributaries of north Jonathan Creek are Turkey Run and Buckeye Creek in Clayton.  The remainder of that township furnishes the sources of small streams that flow into the east branch of Rushcreek or the south fork of Jonathan.  The northeastern part of Reading is drained by Hood's Run into the Moxahala.  The western part is traversed by tributaries of Rushcreek, while the east branch of Rushcreek gets the southern part.  Harrison township is mostly in the basin of the south fork of the Jonathan, as is Bearfield with the exception of the south side where Sundaycreek has its origin.  A branch of Wolfe Creek, in Morgan county also rises in the southeast of Bearfield.  The east branch of Rushcreek and the south fork of the Moxahala get the waters of Pike.  Jackson has many feeders for east Rushcreek.  Little Mondaycreek has its beginning in this township at the Gordon Cross Roads, where the Lexington and Logan road crosses the old Monongahela Indian trail.  Mondaycreek is aptly named.  Both streams of that name receive her entire drainage.  Big Mondaycreek and the west branch of Sundaycreek get Saltlick's rainfall.  Big Mondaycreek has also a tributary in Coal.  Indian Creek rises in the eastern part of that township and flows into Sundaycreek over in Athens county.  Pleasant throws her waters into the south fork of the Moxahala and to Sunday creek.  Monroe is entirely drained by the last named stream.

Water Shed.

     The Perry County Divide extends in an irregular line from the northwest to the southeast.  It begins in Thorn township separating the streams that flow into Buckeye Lake and Jonathan's Creek from Rushcreek and Big Walnut.  Somerset is situated on it.  Passing through Clayton township it sweeps to the east toward McLuney.  The C. & M. V. Tunnel cuts it east of New Lexington.  Then turning toward the west again it completes a horse-shoe by circling south of New Lexington.  The T. & O. C. Railroad tunnels it about a mile south of the county seat.  It continues westward as far as Bristol.  This place occupies the summit of a ridge from which five streams have their sources. - Turkey Run of Rushcreek, South Fork of Jonathan.  Little Mondaycreek.  Big Mondaycreek and a branch of Sundaycreek.  The water-shed south of Bristol turns toward the northeast, forming the ridge between the South Fork of Jonathan and Sundaycreek.  Passing south of Moxahala the T. & O. C. R. R. has made through it the longest tunnel in Perry county.  The dividing ridge leaves the county at Porterville.  It is 114 miles long and passes through nine townships: Thorn, Hopewell, Reading, Clayton, Harrison, Pike, Saltlick. Pleasant and Bearfield.  Its average elevation is about 450 feet above Lake Erie and about 1,000 feet above sea level.

Elevations Above Sea Level.

  Feet
Corning, Depot 722
McLuney, Depot 905
Moxahala, Depot 821
New Lexington, Depot 856
New Lexington Court House 946
New Straitsville, Depot 792
Rendville, Depot 742
Summit LaRue's Gap, Shawnee 909
Somerset, Court House 1,159
Maxville, Limestone 776
Roseville, Depot 783
Gore (near county line) 763
Monday Creek Station (on county line) 689
Winona Furnace (on county line) 743
Great Coal Vein at New Straitsville 870

Buckeye Lake

     Buckeye Lake, formerly known as Licking Reservoir, is the only body of water of which our county can boast.  It now contains about thirty-six hundred acres.  It is partly natural and partly artificial.  The natural part consisted of three and four little lakes of pure clear water, well stocked with fish.  Situated as it is along the line of the Terminal Moraine, there is no doubt that it is the result of the great ice sheet that came down from Canada long ago.
     When Christopher Gist encamped upon its shores in 1751, he named it Buffalo Lick, or the Great Swamp.  The first settlers, about the year 1800, found wild plumbs and red thorn-berries growing about its shores in profusion.  The center of the original lake was quite deep with a cranberry island floating upon its surface.
     In the year 1825, when the Ohio Canal was dug, quite a good deal of the surrounding land was flooded to enlarge the lake that it might become a feeder to the canal.  At Millersport is what is known as the "deep cut."  It is about three miles long.
     Buckeye Lake is one of the prettiest little sheets of water in the State.  Its banks are shaded with trees that bend over it, and its placid surface, glinting in the sunlight, is a pleasing contrast to the "rock ribbed" hills.  Here the Isaac Waltons and the Nimrods disport themselves and the man can leave the harassments of business and hie himself to this little "Touch of Nature," and lull himself into sweet forgetfulness.

Geological Divisions.

     The great line extending throughout the State from north to south and dividing the Carboniferous from the Sub-carboniferous regions, passes in an irregular path through a portion of our county.  It strikes our county near the Hopewell-thorn boundary and its course is approximately south till it reaches the northwest corner of Jackson.  Here it sweeps north, east and then south.  Junction City is its eastern extremity.  It then continues in a southwesterly direction leaving the county at the southwest corner of Section 18 in Jackson township.  East of this line are found the coal measures.  None are found west of it.
     Our strata rise to the northwest at the rate of about thirty feet to the mile.  It follows then that rock lying three hundred feet beneath the surface at a given elevation in the southeast of the county, would appear on the surface at the same elevation, ten miles northwest.  For example, McCuneville and Maxville have approximately the same altitude.  At McCuneville the Sub-carboniferous or Maxville limestone, is one hundred and ten feet beneath the creek bed.  At Maxville the lime appears in the bed of the creek.
     The Sub-carboniferous lime as its name implies underlies all our coal measures.  When the Maxville lime makes its appearance on the tops of the hills, it is useless to look for coal there.  So, the lime we have described, theoretically marks the out-crop of the Sub-carboniferous lime on the tops of our hills. (See Map)

Drift Region.

     Our county may also be divided into two other geological divisions, viz:  the Glaciated or Drift Region and the Non-glaciated.  North of the Great Lakes is the Laurentian Highland.  This highland was once a lofty range of mountains.  It was then, with them, just as it is with high mountains today.  On their snow-capped summits, ice was formed and it pitched in frightful avalanches to the valleys below, carrying with it masses of rock, from their deep scarred sides.  Glaciers, or river-like fields of ice were thus pushed out further and further toward the southland, taking with them the granite, which they ground and polished with their tremendous weight.  This vast river of ice passed, in many places over the soft bed-rock and we can yet see the grooves and scratches on its surface.
     The climate must have been somewhat cooler in that time, than now, or the glacial sheet could not have come so far south.  But finally it reached a point where it began to melt.  As it receded toward the north, it left scattered over the land, millions upon millions of tons of granite boulders, many of immense size, pebbles and earth.  The pebbles and earth mixed with lime and other rock gathered in its journey, constitutes the soil in the entire "Drift Region."  It is very fertile and is known as "Till."
     The line marking the southern extremity of the ice region is known as the "Terminal Moraine."  It extends in a general easterly and westerly direction throughout the United States.  In Ohio its trend is northeast and southwest.  This "Terminal Miraine" passes through Perry county.  In Thorn township can be found evidence of the ice.  The boulders or "nigger heads" can be found lying promiscuously about.  The fertility of its soil is dependent upon the "till," which is often found to be 90 feet in thickness.
     It is a coincidence that the "Terminal Moraine" in Perry county is practically the same line that divides the Carboniferous fro the Sub-carboniferous areas. (See Map)  There are some exceptions and these have been designated as "drift loops."  (See Map).  These "loops" may have been caused by subsequent erosion and drifting of streams.  There is no doubt but that our streams have not always had the same course that they have now.  The "Drift" extended much farther in Perry county than most people suppose.  The finding of a granite boulder, weighing almost a ton, in Section 16, Jackson township occasioned some surprise.  Such a rock could not have been carried by water.
     This Ice Sheet scraped out the Great Lakes, together with the thousands of smaller ones in the northern part of the United States.  The natural part of Buckeye Lake is a remnant of the weakened power of the glacier.  What a pity that the ice did not cover all of Perry county.  Its fertility throughout would then have been equal to Thorn township.

Lake Ohio

     Prof. G. Frederick Wright, Oberlin, O., who has obtained a world-wide reputation, as authority on glacial phenomena, says that at one time, when the ice began breaking, it formed a dam to Cincinnati, to the height of about 550 feet.  This would cause the water to back up the trough of the Ohio and its tributaries, to the height of the dam.  It is estimated that this dam covered an area of 20,000 square miles.  During the summer months the dam would break and the floods would sweep down the valley with terrible velocity.  It is interesting to note that the northern tributaries of the Ohio have their sources in the glaciated region.  This accounts for the presence of glacial pebbles along many of our streams, beyond the ice covered tract.  There are evidences of streams that then existed and poured a vast volume of water and deposited "till" on their ancient shores.  The channels of these old streams are now known as "gaps."  This Lake Ohio extended into Perry county.  Prof. Wright's map marks Logan as the northern limit of the lake, on the Hocking river.  Judging from this level, the lake reached to Maxville on Little Mondaycreek, to near Shawnee and McCuneville on Big Mondaycreek, and to Corning on Sundaycreek.  It must have backed up a considerable distance on Jonathan's Creek at least to the Perry county line.

Pre-Glacial Drainage.
By George W. DeLong.

     Scientists have found much evidence that the pre-glacial drainage of a large portion of the state of Ohio was very different from its present drainage.  For our present discussion we need to note only a few of these changes.  There seems to be very good reasons to believe that the Muskingum river flowed from Dresden by way of Hanover, Newark, the Licking Reservoir and Thurston, and joined the Scioto north of Circleville.
     The Hocking river flowed north from Rock-bridge, Hocking county, and joined the Muskingum near Canal Winchester.  Northern Perry county was included in this pre-glacial drainage area.
     All the upper streams of the North Branch of the Moxahala, including Turkey Run flowed to the northwest and discharged their waters into the Muskingum at some point near the present Licking Reservoir.
     The South Branch of the Moxahala, which was joined by Buckeye Creek at Darlington, flowed along the present line of the C. & M. V. R. R., from that point to Zanesville and having joined its waters, with that of the Licking river, united with the Muskingum at some point north or west of Zanesville.  The different branches of Rushcreek flowed approximately along their present courses and joined the Hocking near Lancaster.
     When the great ice-sheet came down from the north, carrying with it a large amount of drift and till, the streams described above were dammed up in their courses and lakes formed at Zanesville, in Thorn and Hopewell townships in Perry county, and at Lancaster.
     The waters of the Lake at Lancaster found an outlet over the low ridge at Rock-bridge and joined the southern half of the Hocking.
     The lake at Zanesville found an outlet in the low ridge near the Muskingum and Morgan county lines and thus turned this stream to the south.
     The lake in northern Perry county found an outlet in the low ridge east of Mt. Perry and having united with Buckeye Creek at Fultonham joined the south branch at Darlington and this formed the present Moxahala River which drains so large a portion of Perry county.
     The Moxahala turned to the east at Darlington and after cutting its way through the hills, joined the Muskingum some miles below Zanesville.  In time the outlets of these lakes cut canons in the ridges over which they flowed and thus the lakes were drained.

Terraces.

     We quote from Prof. G. Frederick Wright, Oberlin.  "Almost without exception, the streams flowing southward from the glaciated area show marks of former floods from fifty to a hundred feet higher than any which now occur.  Gravel deposits form fifty to a hundred feet higher than the present flood plain, line the valley of everyone of these streams not only where they lie in the glaciated region, but through much of their course after they have emerged from the glaciated into the unglaciated region."  This can be noticed in Thorn township, along the valley of Jonathan Creek.  Has anybody in Thorn township ever noticed it?  It is in these terraces that the so called palaeolithic implements have been found, which show that man lived here before the ice came.  Gold is often found in these terraces.  It is called "Drift Gold."  Some of it was discovered along the Licking river several years ago.

Rocks of Perry County as to Structure.

1.  Massive Rock.  As Granite
2. Crystalline Rock.  As Flint
3. Stratified Rock.  As Sandstone or Shale.
4. Fossiliferous Rock.  As Limestone
5. Sedimentary Rock.  As Sandstone
6. Conglomerate Rock.  Pebbles cemented together.
7. Decomposed Rock.  Crumbled.
8. Concretionary Rock.  As kidney iron ore.

     Massive rocks are such as have been produced from within the crust of the earth in a molten condition.  Most of them consist of two or more minerals.  Their chemical constituents are silica, magnesia, lime, potash, soda, magnetic iron and phospate of lime.  Igneous or Eruptive, is another name for massive rocks.
     The granite found in the drift region, is a representative of the massive rock in Perry county.
     Crystalline rocks are those that are formed mainly by chemical deposits.  They are frequently found interstratified with other kinds.  They are being formed constantly by mineral springs, or in the bottom of inland seas and lakes.  The most common Crystalline rock in Perry county is Flint or Chert.
     Stratified Rocks are such as lie in layers one over the other.  Perry county rocks are all classed among the stratified except those brought in by the ice sheet.  The strata of the county lie in much the same way as they did when they were deposited on the old sea floor or the bed of the inland sea.  They have not been disturbed by orogenic agencies and the faults that may be found by borings can be accounted for, in other ways.
     Fossiliferous Rocks contain fossils.  The word "fossil" etymologically means "dug up."  For many years it included any mineral substance, but its meaning is now restricted to include the remains of plants and animals preserved in rocks.  Our Fossiliferous Rocks are shales and limestones.
     Fossils are formed by the decay of animal cells, and the mineral constituent taking the place of the organic matter.  Our limestones are particularly fertile in fossils.  They consist of shells of various forms of submarine life.  Our shales have also an abundance of fossils.  The imprint of leaves and stems of trees are especially plentiful.  Sometimes the track of a bird is found.  Even sandstone contains them in places.  They do not occur frequently, however, as there is not sufficient plastic material in sandstone to hold the fossil intact.  The writer is the possessor of a beautiful fossil in sandrock.  It contains four fern leaves.  Even the midrib is plainly visible.  The fossils found in the coal measures of the country are best known.  Many beautiful specimens have been discovered.  Impressions of fern leaves, branches and trunks of trees, are of frequent occurrence.  They are mostly to be found in the state over the deal.  It the shales that often accompany some of the lighter coal measures of the county may be found excellent fossils of plant life.  About a mile east of Junction City the writer found the Fossiliferous stem of a plant, fifteen feet in length and was not able to get it all for the road workers had destroyed some of it.  The Junction City High School pupils afterward found another one, a part of which they placed in their cabinet of collections.  Another Perry county fossil is vet to be mentioned.  But it is northern part of the county, along the terraces of Jonathan Creek are found numerous remains of coral formations.  Some of them are very beautiful, but they are mostly small fragments.
     Outside of the drift, the Perry county rocks are mostly sedimentary.  The limestones were formed by the siftings of organic matter to the bottom of the ancient ocean.  The sandstones, likewise  rose from the sea, formed by the small particles of sand that settled from above.
     The Conglomerates consist of pebbles, cemented together.  By silicious matter mixing with them and by pressure, they were crowded into a compact mass.  Conglomerates are found in abundance south of Glenford at the Old Stone Fort.
     The geologist Heilprin tells an interesting story of how a friend of his, an old sea captain, had sent him a bolt, that had no doubt come from a wrecked vessel.  The bolt having been buried in the sand, the rust from the iron acted as a cement to the small pebbles about it.  A sheath of pebbles was thus formed and the bolt could be slipped in and out of its pebbly sheath with ease.  This explains the process of making conglomerates, or "pudding stone" as it is sometimes called.
     Decomposed Rocks - All our rocks are to a greater or less extent decomposed.  The process of decomposition is constantly going on.  The mechanical action of water, the alternate contraction and expansion of particles of rock, and the work of the frost, are the silent laborers in the disintegration of the rock masses.  The presence of iron in a great many of our native rocks is one of the surest methods of decomposition.  The oxidation of iron in the sand rocks and shales of Perry county has done as much in tearing down its hills after the water has exposed their sides, as many other agency.  Some of our rocks were never solid; especially is this true of the shales.  They containing little or no sand, had not sufficient weight in themselves to become compact.  Containing very little plastic material that could cement them, they are very easily eroded.  They are altogether of the nature of decayed wood.  In Pleasant, Bearfield and Monroe townships, especially in the latter, we find quite a number of hills that are capped with shale deposits.  Sometimes we find on ridges, the remnants of these old shale beds standing out by themselves.  All has been eroded except a small part which may easily be mistaken for an artificial earthwork.
     Concretions are plentiful among the sedimentary rocks.  The Concretionary Rocks of Perry county are mostly of the iron ore variety, although concretions of clay and limestone may also be found.  These formations were caused by the collection of a mineral around a center.  They assume different shapes, usually spherical and Elliptical.  They are dispersed irregularly through other strata.
     Ferruginous or iron nodules are frequently found in clay.  They form quite often about some organic body, such as a fragment of plant, shell or bone.  The writer, accompanied by his pupils, on a Geological Field Day, found an excellent specimen of iron nodule, about a mile south of Junction City.  In the bed of a stream was found a stratum of pure clay or soapstone.  The appearance of a circular rock of a different color, upon he surface of the white stone attracted instant matter to remove it from the concretion, for such it proved to be.  Upon removal it was found to be some six inches long, about two and one-half inches in diameter at one end, gradually tapering toward the other.  The center of it looked like the heart of a tree.  The conclusion was that when the clay stone was softer, a branch of wood lodged in it.  AS the wood decayed, particles of iron, percolating through the soap stone would take the place of the wood cells, until finally the iron had completely substituted itself.  It was in reality an iron fossil.  We were further convinced of the truth of our conclusion by finding a six-inch vein of the purest iron ore in the bank about three feet above the clay stratum.  These iron concretions are sometimes known as "kidney ore" from their shape.  Upon breaking them open, a hollow center is found, usually containing a little clay dust.  In these cases the center around which the concretions were made, has decayed, and as they are formed by building layer upon layer from the outside, the original becomes a cavity.  The iron nodule referred to above was not formed that way.  It built toward the center.  The incasement of the wood by the clay prevented the concentric layers from being laid upon it from the outside.  The bark of the wood would decay first.  Its cells would be filled by the iron.  The ferruginous material, always being present, would enter the wood from above.  The harder center decayed more slowly and only the finer particles of iron could find lodgment there and consequently the branch of the tree was almost perfectly reproduced.

 

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