“Geographical and Historical”

Date

1-31-1812

Newspaper

Western Intelligencer

Page and Column

Page 2, Column 1

Newspaper Location

Worthington, Ohio

Serial Number

1184

Abstract

Description of Ohio geography and history

Transcript

Geographical and Historical Sketches of the state of Ohio. No. 3. OF THE SCIOTO COUNTRY. The Scioto country, so called, is about 150 miles long north and south, and about sixty miles wide from east to west-embracing all that middle part of the state, which is watered by the Scioto river, and the numerous branches, and the small creeks which empty into the Ohio, near the Scioto from east and west; and from its position in the state as viewed from west to east, is often called, and very properly, the middle country. It will be understood from the foregoing account of the waters of this state, that there are three principal rivers of the south, which discharge themselves into the Ohio, viz. the Great Miami in the western, the Muskingum in the eastern, and the Scioto in the middle district. The Great Miami receives almost all its waters within the state line, bearing considerably to the west of south, in its course from its main fork. It empties into the Ohio, exactly at the southwest corner of the state. The Muskingum receives all its water in the eastern district, and running in its general course from its main fork, considerable to the east of south, falls into the Ohio at a point which may be considered the south east corner of the state; altho' strictly speaking the south east quarter cannot be said to have any certain corner southeastwardly, it being thrown into an irregular figure in that quarter, by the meanders and general southwesterly course of the Ohio. The Scioto, as has been already observed, receives all its waters in the middle district, and taking a south course, empties from the point where a due south line from the centre of the state, would intersect it. The mouth of the Muskingum being 98 miles eastward, and the mouth of the Great Miami 100 miles westward, from the mouth of Scioto, in a direct line across the country. On the west of the Scioto, and between that and the Great Miami, and near to the latter, is the Little Miami; which runs from north east to south west.-And on the east of Scioto, between that and Muskingum and nearest to the latter, is the Hockhocking, which runs from north west to south east.-These two rivers are about equal in size and rise almost exactly in the same region of the state, as viewed from north to south, being a little further south, than the main forks of the large rivers-and altho' much inferior in size to the three large rivers above mentioned. They are much superior to any of the other southern waters of the state. The tract of country which lies on the two Miamies, & their neighboring streams is called the Miami country; that on the Muskingum and Hockhocking, with their neighboring streams, is called the Muskingum country; and the northern part of the state, along the lake shore, and on the rivers of the Lake, is called the Lake country, in contra distinction from the Scioto, or middle country, of which we are treating. The face of the country, in the middle District, is very various in different parts; being in the south, excessively hilly, in the middle very level, and in the north part handsomely variegated with gentle swells and intervals.-From the Ohio, northward and on the west side of the Scioto, the hills extend to Main Paint creek, a distance of about 40 miles; and on the east of Scioto, they extend about 60 miles from the Ohio, and terminate near the head fork of Salt creek; in all this tract of country there are no regular ranges of hills, or chain of mountains, but an almost infinity of knobs and broken ridges, with deep and irregular hollows rendering it, for the most part unpleasant for farming, and the soil is generally thin and poor compared with the other part of the district, excepting the bottoms on the Scioto, which are very rich and in many places of considerable width-also some narrow strips of bottom land, on the smaller streams; these hills however have very fine forests of oak growing upon them in many parts, especially where they are the least broken, and will make excellent patterns for sheep, if improved in the proper manner. They are also found to answer well for the wine grape. From the termination of those hills extending up the river, and upon all its branches the country becomes very level, and in many parts very rich, the timber on the up land, where it is timbered at all. [unreadable] principally, of white, black and [unreadable] oak, hickory, sugar tree, white and [unreadable text], red elm, black walnut, [unreadable text] wood and poplar. The under wood being chiefly buckeye, dogwood, or boxwood, ironwood, black hawberry, hazle and splee bush. The white oak and bitter hickory timber are considered as an invariable indication of a thin soil, usually bottomed on sand or loose gravel and soon fails without good management in cultivation; in the parts where the whiteoak is mixed with the other kinds of oak, shell bark hickory, poplar, &c. the soil is much better, being generally rich and durable. The black walnut, blue ash and red elm, are always considered as evidence of a rich soil, but not as sure indications of great depth or durability; the spice under growth is always taken as certain evidence of a warm soil, and generally very productive of almost all kinds of crops. The bottom lands in this and in all other parts of the Scioto country, are timbered with hackberry, buckeye, black walnut, butter nut, honey locust, boxelder, the pawpaw or custard apple tree, crab apple tree, hawthorn, meadow plum tree and spice bush. In the very level and wet parts of the country, there is much solt maple, and white elm; and immediately along the banks of the rivers and creeks, the timber is almost wholly of the button ball kind, usually called, in this country, sycamore. There are, in this part of the Scioto country, frequent openings and preairies, both wet and dry, containing hundreds, and in many places even thousands of acres together, only timbered with a few shrubby oaks, thinly scattered over this extensive region. In some places, however, may be seen extensive plains and wet prairies all clear of timber, except here and there a small forest of lofty trees standing like an island in a lake or sea. Those prairies and plains are most extensive on the head waters of Salt creek, the northern branches of Paint creek and upon Deer and Darby creeks, but extend also, and are branched out in many places near the Scioto, from the termination of the hills to the distance of about 87 miles from the Ohio. The Pickaway and Walnut plains exhibit a very rich and handsome prospects of fertile country. The other parts of this section of the country, in which the prairies are frequent are either moderately variegated with hills and dales, or very level and rich but rather wet and swampy ground. In this part of the district, is much first rate land, producing amongst other articles of produce immence quantities of corn, hemp, flax, wheat, rye and oats; also the most unbounded extent of wild, but rich pasture for cattle; which are here raised in such numbers as would be almost incredible, could we tell them.

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