Baker into the woods and ran up a tree. followed and saw by the light of the moon a catamount crouched on a large limb above his head. He fired and the animal fell to the ground dead. The death of the catamount stopped the destruction of the swine; but Baker refused to take the dollar he had earned, being satisfied with the skin of the animal. At another time, when returning from a neighbor's, his dogs treed two catamounts. After a lively skirmish, during which he experienced considerable personal danger, he succeeded in killing them both. Squirrels.-The woods were filled with squirrels, which came by the hundreds into the corn-fields and dug up and destroyed the growing grain. Hunts were frequently organized to rid the forest of these pests, and often on such occasions hundreds were killed and for days after the hunters' families were provided with an abundant supply of choice meat. A hunt of this character was projected one day by a party of settlers, among whom were Thomas Cooker and Enoch Baker. When night came and the hunters assembled to see who had been most successful, it was found that almost 200 squirrels had been killed. As each hunter brought into the room the squirrels he had killed, Baker, to the astonishment of all, lugged in a large catamount as the result of his day's hunt. It was conceded by all that he had done the best day's work. Encounters with Bears.-At another time, William Cloe, then a boy about sixteen years old, called the dogs one evening, and started in search of the cows. The dogs left his side, and he soon heard them barking furiously at some animal that had turned at bay. He hurried forward and saw them standing guard over a large hollow log, and, from their cautious movements, he knew they were confronted by an animal of which they were afraid. He stole cautiously forward from the rear, and, peering under the log, saw the huge paws of a bear. The boy was without a gun, but, determining to attack the bear at all hazards, he armed himself with a heavy club and resolutely approached the log. While the attention of the bear was diverted to the dogs, which, emboldened by the approach of the boy, had renewed the attack with great fury, he seized it by the hind leg and pulled it from the log. Before the animal could recover its feet, the boy dealt it a terrible blow across the head, repeating the act again and again, until life was extinct. When the excited boy returned home without the cows and related his adventure his story was not believed until the dead bear was seen. William's brother Daniel remained one night at the cabin of a relative near West Liberty, and early the next morning, before daybreak, started for home. He was accompanied by a large bull-dog, belonging to Enoch Baker, and after going a short distance he was startled by seeing several wolves running along in the woods on either side of and behind him. He started forward, but had not gone ten paces before a pack of eleven wolves, with open mouths, bounded toward him from behind. A large one, the leader of the pack, was almost upon him, when it was seized by the throat by the dog and pinned to the ground. The others fell back, giving the boy time to ascend a small iron-wood tree, and, after a short fight, the wolf escaped the hold of the dog, and together the whole pack turned and disappeared in the woods. The boy had been saved by the dog from a horrible death. One day Seth Hawkes, hearing one of his hogs squealing loudly in the woods about a quarter of a mile from his cabin, hastened out to see what could be the matter. A large log lay upon the ground between him and the squealing hog, and nothing could be seen by the settler until he reached the log and peered over. There lay his hog upon the ground, while standing over it, with their sharp teeth and claws in its flesh, were two large bears. The animals instantly perceived the intruder and turned upon him furiously, but he ran to a small tree, and sprang into the lower branches just in time to escape the claws of the larger bear, which had swiftly pursued him. The furious animal began making desperate efforts to reach the settler. It at first endeavored to climb the tree; but, failing in this, it retired to a short distance, and, turning, ran toward the tree with the apparent intention of leaping into the lower branches. The terrified Mr. Hawks sat on a limb above and regarded with no little concern the efforts of the bear. He began hallooing loudly for assistance, and the bear increased its efforts to reach its enemy. It soon wore quite a path in running to the tree, and would leap high enough to seize one of the limbs in its teeth. After about half an hour Rudolphus Morse, who had been apprised by Mrs. Hawks of the dangerous situation of her husband, appeared upon the scene, whereupon the bears, whose fury had spent itself, apparently realizing that it was no longer wise to dispute against such odds about the ownership of the hog, shambled off through the woods as fast as their feet could carry them. Many other interesting anecdotes of a similar nature are related by the old settlers. CRESTLINE is situated at the crossing of the P. Ft. W. & C. and the C. C. C. & I. Railroad, about 13 miles from Bucyrus. It was laid out in 1851 by Rensellaer Livingston and originally bore the name of Livingston. It is in Jackson township, comprising only 8 square miles, probably the smallest in the State. It is a railroad town and supported mainly by the railroad shops located here. Be fore the day of railroads a town on this spot was not thought of. Men who are still in the prime of life remember when it was a good place to hunt deer. The site is flat. When laid out it was thought to be the highest point above sea-leve! in the State, hence the name Crestline. It has two newspapers, Advocate, Ind., D. C. Billow, editor; Vidette, Dem., W. W. Pope, editor. Churches: 1 Methodist Episcopal, 2 German Lutheran, 1 English Lutheran, 1 German Reformed, 1 Presbyterian and 1 Catholic. Babst's Banking House, Babst Bros., proprietors, Jacob Babst, cashier. Manufactures and Employees.-Talbot & Co., meal and feed, 4 hands; Eckstein & Ross, planing mill, 14; J. W. Pond & Co., flour, etc., 3; P. Ft. W. & C. R. R. Co., railroad repairs, 156; N. Burch Plow Works, plows, 8.—State Report 1887. Population in 1880, 2,848. New Washington village had in 1880 675 inhabitants, and Leesville Cross Roads 213. CUYAHOGA. CUYAHOGA was formed from Geauga county, June 7, 1807, and organized in May, 1810. The name was derived from the river, and is said to signify, in the Indian language, "crooked," a term significant of the river, which is very winding, and has its sources farther north than its mouth. The surface is level or gently undulating. Near the lake the soil is sandy, elsewhere generally a clayey foam. The valleys of the streams are highly productive in corn and oats; in other parts the principal crops are wheat, barley and hay. The county produces a great variety and amount of excellent fruit; also cheese, butter, etc. Excellent grindstone quarries are worked, and grindstones largely exported. The sandstone from these quarries is a great article of commerce. Area, 470 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 100,462; pasture, 73,790; woodland, 24,634; lying waste, 8,937; produced in wheat, 184,680 bushels; oats, 550,108; corn, 360,664; apples, 297,497; butter, 847,183 pounds; cheese, 46,397; milk, 3,598,729 quarts; cows, 12,486; pounds of grapes, 3,290,363, being more than double that of any other county. School census 1886 74,027; teachers, 932. It has 395 miles of railroad track. Population in 1840 was 26,512; in 1860, 77,139; in 1870, 130,564; in 1880, 194,735, of whom 101,980 were Ohio-born; 4,728 Pennsylvania; 10,059 New York; 27,051 born in the German Empire; 13,203 in Ireland; 10,839 in England and Wales; 4,884 British America; 1,705 Scotland; 506 France; 248 Sweden and Norway. L. ERI-E As early as 1755 there was a French station within the present limits of Cuyahoga. On Lewis Evans' map of the middle British colonies, published that year, there is marked upon the west bank of the Cuyahoga, the words "French house," which was doubtless the station of a French trader. The ruins of a house, supposed to be those of the one alluded to, have been discovered on Foot's farm, in Brooklyn township, about five miles from the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The small engraving annexed is from the map of Evans, and delineates the geography as in the original. Cuahoga R. French House" A Tawas Bortage In 1786 the Moravian missionary, Zeisberger, with his Indian converts, left Detroit, and arrived at the mouth of the Cuyahoga in a vessel called the Mackinaw. From thence they proceeded up the river about ten miles from the site of Cleveland, and settled in an abandoned village of the Ottawas, within the present limits of Independence, which they called Pilgerruh, i. e., Pilgrim's Rest. Their stay was brief, for in the April following they left for Huron river, and settled near the site of Milan, Erie county, at a locality they named New Salem. The British, who, after the Revolutionary war, refused to yield possession of the lake country west of the Cuyahoga, occupied to its shores until 1790. Their traders had a house in Ohio City, north of the Detroit road on the point of the hill near the river, when the surveyors first arrived here in 1796. From an early day Washington, Jefferson and other leading Virginia statesmen regarded the mouth of the Cuyahoga as an important commercial position. The First Permanent Settlement within the limits of Cuyahoga was made at CLEVELAND in the autumn of 1796. On the 4th of July previous, the first surveying party of the Reserve landed at Conneaut. In September and October the corps laid out the city, which was named in honor of the land company's agent, Gen. Moses Cleveland. By the 18th of October, the surveyors quitted the place, leaving Mr. Job V. Stiles and his family and Mr. Edward Paine, who were the only persons that passed the winter of 1796-97 within the limits of the town. Their lonely residence was a log-cabin, which stood near the site of the Commercial bank. The nearest white settlement west was at the mouth of the Raisin; south or east at Fort M'Intosh, at the mouth of Big Beaver; and northeast at Conneaut. Those families that wintered at Conneaut suffered severely from want of food. The Surveying Party, on reaching the Reserve the succeeding season, again made Cleveland their headquarters. Early this season, Elijah Gunn and Judge Kingsbury removed here from Conneaut with their families, and in the fall the latter removed to Newburg, where he still (1846) resides at an advanced age. The little colony was increased also by the arrival of Major Lorenzo Carter and Ezekiel Hawley, with their families. Trials and Suffering.-In 1798 Rodolphus Edwards and Nathaniel Doane, with their families, settled in Cleveland. To faintly show the difficulty of travelling at that time, it is stated that Mr. Doane was ninety-two days on his journey from Chatham, Conn. In the latter part of the summer and in the fall, every person in the town was sick, either with the bilious fever or with the fever and ague. Mr. Doane's family consisted of nine persons; the only one of them having sufficient strength to take care of them and bring a pail of water was Seth Doane, then a lad of thirteen years of age, and even he had daily attacks of the fever and ague. Such was the severity of the bilious fever at that time, that a person having only daily attacks of fever and ague was deemed lucky. There was much suffering from the want of food, particularly that proper for the sick. The only way this family was supplied, for two months or more, was through the exertions of this boy, who daily, after having an attack of the ague, went to Judge Kingsbury's, in Newburg-five miles distant-got a peck of Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. VALLEY OF THE CUYAHOGA AT CLEVELAND. [The view shows in the distance Lake Erie. The valley is now for miles filled with manufacturing establishments--a scene of busy industry. The viaduct now spans the valley in the middle background from plateau to plateau, 3,211 feet in length, 68 feet high and 64 feet wide.] [This great arched viaduct of Berea stone and iron was completed in 1878 and at a cost of $2,225,000. Ten years later, in 1888, through the enterprise of Mr. J. M. Curtis, was completed at an expense of about $1,000.000 the Central Viaduct. It is built of iron on the Cantilever principle, and crosses the Cuyahoga about a mile above the other and also Walworth Run Valley, the combined length 5,229 feet, and height above the Cuyahoga 101 feet.] [This ever-increasing busy thoroughfare preserves some of its original features. The Weddell House and its contemplative eagle still remain. The venerable bird of never-lifting wing has there rested forty-two years from that hour since he could glance down upon him who pens these lines, sketching the scene, seated in a chair with urchins curious clustered close around. Solitary philosophic observer upon things below, looking for greater wonders and ready to hail the good time coming.] |