JOHN W. & ABRAM MILLAR.     The rich lands of the Scioto bottoms early attracted the attention of the wealthy farmers of the Shenandoah and James river valleys, and all those who did not believe in the divine institution of slavery; turned their faces towards the North Western Territory, which had been ceded to the United States by the Old Dominion, and dedicated to freedom forever.  Among this class was John W. Miller, and his brother Adam.  They came about the year 1799, sometime before the land was in market, and located about fifteen miles North of the mouth of the Scioto river, on the  rich bottom lands for which that stream is so famous.  They possessed ample means, and as soon as the land came into market, purchased large bodies of the best of land, where they soon had the most productive farms in Scioto county.  The Scioto valley soon became famous for its supplies of corn furnished to the surrounding country, where the land was less productive.  As the country filled up very rapidly by emigrants from all parts of the world, who had to be supplied with bread until they could raise corn for themselves, it created a great demand for the corn of the Scioto valley.  In fact, it was named the Egypt of the country.  Everybody had to go there to get their supplies of corn, which seemed to be inexhaustible.  But notwithstanding the great demand of the home market, there was a large surplus that had to be disposed of some other way.  The Millars early turned their attention to distilling.  They both built distilleries on their farms, and in that way manufactured large quantities of corn into whisky.  That they could send to a distant market.  New Orleans afforded the only outlet that could be reached by the produce from this section of country.  Therefore the Scioto farmers built Orleans boats out of the bodies of the tall poplar trees that grew in great abundance at that time - some of them being nearly one hundred feet to the first limb, three or feet in diameter, and as straight as an arrow.  These were the noblest trees of the forest.
     As I am writing more for the benefit of posterity than for the gratification of the present generation, I must here describe the manner of building those boats.  Since the introduction of steam boats and barges, and the invention of railways, everything has changed with regard to getting heavy produce to market.  The old Orleans boat is no longer used.  These tall poplar trees were felled in the woods where they grew, and cut off at the top the full length of the tree, ranging from sixty to a hundred feet as the case might be.  It was then scored and hewed to the proper size, generally as large as the tree would square.  They would then raise it to a proper highth for ripping in two with a whip saw.  These long heavy pieces of timber could be raised to the heighth of seven or eight feet by two or three men without the aid of machinery of any kind.  It was done by raising one end by using a lever and placing a block under it near the middle so that it would nearly balance, then the weight of a man would bring down the end that was up and raise the other end, then place a block near the middle, so as to let it tip the other way.  They would then build up a crib of small poles under the middle of the gunwale as it was called, so that the weight of a man would depress one end to the ground and raise the other up.  In this way, by raising and depressing each end alternately, and building their crib as they went along, they could raise it to any required heighth.   Then two men with a whip saw would go to work and rip it in two.  At the same time taking a plank two inches thick from each side the whole length for side plank.  The gunwles- were then taken down and dragtged into the river, where the boaa was built according to the usual plan of building Orleans boats.  When the boat was built and the crop gathered, they then had to wait for a rise in the river.  when the rise came, either in the winter or the early spring  they loaded their boats and dropped down to New Orleans.  Whatever they got for their boat and load constituted the proceeds of their year's labor.  They then took a deck passage on some steamboat and returned home, to go through the same process again.  It generally took a year to raise a crop, build a boat, take it to market and return.  There was very little cash outlay in the operation, for they could do all the work themselves, and what  ever they got was clear again.  This mode of doing business was kept up till the Ohio canal was finished, in 1832, this opened up an easier and safer way of getting their produce to market.
     Abram Millar not  being satisfied with merely raising corn and turning it into whisky, tried his hand in the cultivation of hemp.  He was of the impression that hemp would prove to be a more profitable crop than corn.  Accordingly in 1830 - 31, he erected some costly machinery for the purpose of breaking and dressing the hemp, preparatory to sending it to market.  He gave the business a fair trial for several years, but somehow it did not work satisfactorily, and he abandoned it and fell back to corn and stock again.  He became wealthy, and had one of the best farms in the State of Ohio.  Yet he was not happy.  To sit down and enjoy the fruits of a long and laborous life in peace and plenty was not happiness for him.  He went to Missouri, and opposite the mouth of the Ohio, some thirty miles or so back in the country, he purchased a large tract of land and commenced operations again.  I saw him at McCoy's tavern on his return home, after spending the winter in making improvements on his new place.  He was bragging of how much work he had done during the winter.  He had built houses, cleared hundreds of acres of land; made thousands of rails, and fenced it; sat out thousands of fruit trees; made meadows, and in fact done everything that could be done, to make the place suitable for the reception of his family.  He appeared to be in as nauch glee in telling of the prospects of his new home in the West, as if he had been but twenty-five years of age, and that was his first starting out in life.  He was then over sixty years of age.  He sold his farm for fifty thousand

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