THE GREAT NATURAL GAS JUBILEE. On the second week in June, 1887, three days-Wednesday, Thursday and Friday-were given to celebrating the first anniversary of the practical application of natural gas to the mechanical arts in Findlay. It was on the 9th of June, 1885, that the Biggs Iron and Tool Company first welded iron and steel together in Northern Ohio with natural gas. It was a novel occasion-the first jubilee of its kind in history. "Forty thousand visitors poured into the town to participate in the natural gas jubilee. The bustling city was ablaze with light and decorations, radiant in all the glory of flags, evergreens, bunting, and flowers. The main street was spanned by fifty-eight arches, bearing jubilant mottoes illuminated by the flame of thousands of gas jets. Thirty thousand such jets were burning all over the city and turning the night into day. The first day (Wednesday) was devoted chiefly to the reception of distinguished guests. On Thursday morning the exercises consisted of the laying of the corner-stones for four new manufacturing establishments, in addition to those which had been laid the day before. Early in the day Senator John Sherman and other dignitaries arrived, and in the afternoon Gov. Foraker, accompanied by Adjutant-General Axline and staff, and the regular army officers who were to act as judges of the military contest, reached the city, and were accorded a most hearty reception. Other arrivals were about 1,000 uniformed members of the Knights of Pythias, from Springfield, Toledo, Dayton, Cleveland, Sandusky, Bluffton, and other points, all accompanied by bands of music. The $1,000 prize drill, later in the day, attracted 5,000 spectators. cess. "All day long the burning gas on the street arches flared in the light rains. It was cheaper to let it burn than to employ men to put it out and light it again. In the evening there was a grand banquet, at which appropriate addresses were made by Senator Sherman, Gov. Foraker, Charles Foster, Murat Halstead, Gen. Thomas Powell and others. The evening's illumination was a grand sucHundreds of sheets of flaine leaped from the arches, and the brilliancy of the burning gas flooded the city in a blaze of light. A continuous display of fireworks was made from seven o'clock until midnight, while 70,000 people packed roadway, walks, windows and roofs, and manifested in repeated applause their admiration of the spectacle. Friday, the last day, was occupied with processions, military parades, prize drills, band contests at the Wigwam, the laying of various corner-stones, and of the first rails of the belt and electric railroads; the festivities concluding in the evening with the awarding of prizes and a display of fireworks. In the drill the first prize of $1,000 was won by the Toledo Cadets, while the State University Cadets won the second prize of $500, and the Wooster Guards the third prize of $250.” MT. BLANCHARD is 10 miles southeast of Findlay. It is on the line of the C. & W. Railroad. It is in a fine farming and wool-growing district, and oil and gas are found in abundance. Churches: 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Methodist Protestant, and 1 Presbyterian. Population in 1880, 285. MCCOMB is 85 miles northwest of Columbus, 40 miles south of Toledo, and 116 miles west of Cleveland, on the line of the N. Y. C. & St. L. and McĆ. D. & T. Railroads. It is surrounded by fine farming lands. Oil and natural gas are found in abundance. Newspaper: Herald, S. B. Davis, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Disciples, and 1 German Lutheran. Principal Industries: Manufacturing handles of all kinds, planing mills, etc. Population in 1880, 417. School census, 1886, 337; H. Walter Doty, superintendent. ARCADIA, on the L. E. & W. and N. Y. C. & St. L. Railroads, is 9 miles northeast of Findlay. It has 1 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, and 1 Lutheran church. Population in 1880, 396. · VANLUE, on the I. B. & W. Railroad, 10 miles east of Findlay. Population in 1880, 364. School census, 1888, 142. VAN BUREN is on the T. C. & S. Railroad, 7 miles north of Findlay. Population in 1880, 130. BENTON RIDGE is 8 miles southwest of Findlay. Population in 1880, 179. School census, 1888, 96. HARDIN. HARDIN COUNTY was formed from old Indian territory, April 1, 1820. Area about 440 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated v → 132,898; in pasture, 30,697, woodland, 47,516; lying waste, 8,167; produced in wheat, 359,060 bushels; rye, 12,526; buckwheat, 635; oats, 340,047; barley, 315; corn, 1,187,035; meadow hay, 22,771 tons; clover hay, 5,243; flax, 2,012 lbs. fibre; potatoes, 114,506 bushels; butter, 550,396 lbs. ; cheese, 574; sorghum, 1,488 gallons; maple syrup, 2,810; honey, 25,358 lbs.; eggs, 524,031 dozen; grapes, 5,085 lbs. ; sweet potatoes, 40 bushels; apples, 53,791; peaches, 255; pears, 403; wool, 209,683 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 5,954. School census, 1888, 9,306; teachers, 264. Miles of railroad track, 91. Population of Hardin, 1840, 4,583; 1860, 13,570; 1880, 27,023; of whom 22,328 were born in Ohio; 1,047 Pennsylvania; 480 Virginia; 320 New York; 187 Indiana; 85 Kentucky; 738 German Empire; 386 Ireland; 147 England and Wales; 57 British America; 20 Scotland; and 18 France. Although Hardin was formed from old Indian territory as early as 1820, it was not organized until January 8, 1833, previous to which it formed for judicial purposes a part of Logan county, and when Champaign was organized of that county. About half of the county is level and the remainder undulating, and all capable of thorough drainage. The soil is part gravelly loam and part clayey and based on limestone and rich. Its original forests were very heavy in timber and of the usual varieties. Originally the deep woods of the county were singularly free from underbrush, so that the pioneers could see a long distance between the trees. It is supposed that this arose from a habit of the Indians of annually burning the underbrush to facilitate the capture of game. Owing to the heavy timber the county slowly settled, so that as late as 1840 it had but nine inhabitants to the square mile. The county, like Marion, is on the great watershed of the State, the southern part being in the Mississippi valley and the northern part in the Lake Erie basin. Its principal streams are the Scioto and the Blanchard, the waters of the first going into the Ohio and the other into Lake Erie. The Blanchard, Hog Creek and the north branch of the Miami head in this county, while the Scioto heads in Auglaize county, enters Hardin from the southwest, flows through the great Scioto marsh, first goes northeast and then southeast by Kenton. Col. JOHN HARDIN, from whom this county was named, was an officer of distinction in the early settlement of the West. He was born of humble parentage, in Fauquier county, Virginia, in 1753. From his very youth, he was initiated into the life of a woodsman, and acquired uncommon skill as a marksman and a hunter. In the spring of 1774 young Hardin, then not twenty-one years of age, was appointed an ensign in a militia company, and shortly after, in an action with the Indians, was wounded in the knee. Before he had fully recovered from his wound he joined the noted expedition of Dunmore. In the war of the revolution, he was a lieutenant in Morgan's celebrated rifle corps. He was high in the esteem of General Morgan, and was often selected for enterprises of peril, requiring discretion and intrepidity. On one of these occasions, while with the northern army, he was sent out on a reconnoitring expedition, with orders to take a prisoner, for the purpose of obtaining information. Marching silently in advance of his party, he ascended to the top of an abrupt hill, where he met two or three British soldiers and a Mohawk Indian. The moment was critical. Hardin felt no hesitation-his rifle was instantly presented, and they ordered to surrender. The soldiers immediately threw down their arms-the Indian clubbed his gun. They stood, while he continued to advance on them: but none of his men having come up, and thinking he might want some assistance, he turned his head a little and called to them to come on; at this moment, the Indian, observing his eye withdrawn from him, reversed his gun with a rapid motion, in order to shoot Hardin; when he, catching in his vision the gleam of light reflected from the polished barrel, with equal rapidity apprehended its meaning, and was prompt to prevent the dire effect. He brings his rifle to a level in his own hands, and fires without raising it to his face-he had not time, the attempt would have given the Indian the first fire, on that depended life and death-he gained it and gave the Indian a mortal wound; who, also, firing in the succeeding moment, sent his ball through Hardin's hair. The rest of the party made no resistance, but were marched to camp. On this occasion Hardin received the thanks of General Gates. In 1786 he settled in Washington county, Kentucky, and there was no expedition into the Indian country after he settled in Kentucky, except that of General St. Clair, which he was prevented from joining by an accidental lameness, in which he was not engaged. In these, he generally distinguished himself by his galTantry and success. In Harmar's expedition, however, he was unfortunate, being defeated by the Indians when on detached command, near Fort Wayne. Colonel Hardin was killed in the 39th year of his age. He was says Marshall, in his history of Kentucky, from which these facts are derived-a man of unassuming manners, and great gentleness of deportment; yet of singular firmness and inflexibility as to matters of truth and justice. Prior to the news of his death, such was his popularity in Kentucky, that he was appointed general of the first brigade. His Colonel Hardin was killed by the Indians in 1792. He was sent by General Washington on a mission of peace to them-and was on his way to the Shawnees' town. He had reached within a few miles of his point of destination, and was within what is NOW Shelby county, in this State, when he was overtaken by a few Indians, who proposed encamping with him, and to accompany him the next day to the residence of their chiefs. In the night, they basely murdered him, as was alleged, for his horse and equipments, which were attractive and valuable. companion, a white man, who spoke Indian, and acted as interpreter, was uninjured. When the chiefs heard of Hardin's death, they were sorry, for they desired to hear what the messenger of peace had to communicate. A town was laid out on the spot some years since, on the State road from Piqua through Wapakonetta, and named, at the suggestion of Col. John Johnson, Hardin, to perpetuate the memory and sufferings of this brave and patriotic man: it is about six miles west of Sidney. FORT M'ARTHUR was a fortification built in the late war, on the Scioto river, in this county, and on Hull's road. It was a low, flat place, in the far woods, and with but little communication with the settlements, as no person could go from one to the other but at the peril of his life, the woods being infested with hostile Indians. The fort was a stockade, enclosing about half an acre. There were two blockhouses; one in the northwest and the other in the southeast angle. Seventy or eighty feet of the enclosure was composed of a row of log corn-cribs, covered with a shed roof, sloping inside. A part of the pickets were of split timber, and lapped at the edges: others were round logs, set up endways, and touching each other. The rows of huts for the garrison were a few feet from the walls. It was a post of much danger, liable at any moment to be attacked. The site of this fort is about three miles southwest of Kenton, and not a vestige of it now remains. It must have been an exceedingly dreary spot and largely fatal to the soldiers, as it is in the vicinity of the great Scioto marsh. The graves of sixteen of the garrison are near by. The prompt building of this fort reflects great credit upon the foresight of Governor Meigs. On the 11th of June, 1812, one week before the declaration of war, he despatched Duncan M'Arthur with a regiment of soldiers from Urbanna, to open a road in advance of Hull's army and build a stockade at the crossing of the Scioto. On the 19th Hull arrived with the residue of his army. His trace is still discernible, after a lapse now of seventy-seven years, in various places through the northwestern counties as he passed on his way to Detroit. Not a vestige of the fort now re mains, but remnants of M'Arthur's corduroy through the boggy forest are yet to be found. On page 705 is a sketch of Thomas Coke Wright, who gave for our first edition this interesting incident. It was at one time commanded by Captain Robert M'Clelland, who recently died in Greene county. He was brave, and when roused, brave to rashness. While he commanded at Fort M'Arthur, one of his men had gone a short distance from the walls for the purpose of peeling bark. While he was engaged on a tree, he was shot twice through the body, by a couple of Indians in ambush, whose rifles went off so near together that the reports were barely distinguishable. He uttered one piercing scream of agony, and ran with almost superhuman speed, but fell before he reached the fort. An instant alarm was spread through the garrison, as no doubt was entertained but that this was the commencement of a general attack, which had been long expected. Instead of shutting the gates to keep out danger, M'Clelland seized his rifle, and calling on some of his men to follow, of which but few obeyed, he hastened to the place of ambush and made diligent search for the enemy, who, by an instant and rapid retreat, had effected their escape; nor did he return until he had scoured the woods all around in the vicinity of the fort. The old M'Arthur road, or "Hull's trail," was for many years the principal highway from Bellefontaine to Detroit, while Fort M'Arthur remained garrisoned for some time after the close of the war. According to tradition the first family to locate in the county was that of Alfred Hale, who came to Fort M'Arthur in 1817, and in 1819 was born their son Jonas, their fourth child. Hale was a hunter and squatter, and remained but a short time. The first permanent settlement was made near the site of Roundhead, in the spring of 1818, by Peter C. M'Arthur and Daniel Campbell, where they built cabins, and after planting corn went back to Ross county to bring their families. but from fear of a sudden outbreak of Indians, did not return until 1822. The nearest settlement was about Bellefontaine. It is said that their fire at one time going out, M'Arthur was compelled to walk to that point to obtain a fresh supply. Upon his return he met a squaw, who, laughing at his ignorance, showed him how to make a fire with a flint and a piece of punk. About the next family in that vicinity was that of Samuel Tidd, a blacksmith, who at one time did much work for the Indians. He came in February, 1822, and settled in the forests, where was born, November 15 of the next year, their daughter Jane, the first female child born in Hardin county. In the county history appears her portrait, as Mrs. Jane Tidd Rutledge, a good, strong, womanly face. The first court held in the county was held March 8, 1834, in a block-house, the residence of Hon. William McCloud, at M'Arthur, McCloud being one of the associate judges. The first county officers were elected the next month. The total vote was only sixty-three. Little or no business was done at the first term of court. The next year a trial jury was required. The farmers were busy, the country sparsely settled, and the sheriff found great difficulty in impanelling a jury. On the morning of the second day, the judge opened court and asked the sheriff if the jury was full. sheriff is said to have replied "Not quite full yet. I have eleven men in the jail and my dogs and deputies are after the twelfth The man." The jail at that time was a log-cabin near the fort. The court-room was a shed constructed from the side of the block-house, with clapboards, with forked saplings for uprights. The benches for jury and spectators were split clapboards, with auger holes for legs. The "bench were provided with a table and chairs. The jury retired to the woods for their deliberation. Kenton in 1846.-Kenton, the county-seat, is on the Scioto river and Mad river railroad, seventy-one miles northwest of Columbus, and seventy-eight from Sandusky City. The view shown was taken southwest of the town. The railroad is shown in front, with the depot on the left the Presbyterian church appears near the centre of the view. In the centre of the town is a neat public square. From the facilities furnished by the railroad, Kenton promises to be an inland town of considerable business and population. It now contains eight drygoods and four grocery stores, one newspaper printing office, one foundry, one grist and one saw mill, one Presbyterian and one Methodist church, and had, in 1840, 300 inhabitants, see which it is estimated to have more than doubled its population. There is a house in this town, the rain flowing from its north ridge |