THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIAMI COUNTRY.
FRANK P. GOODWIN,
Professor American History, Woodward
High School, Cincinnati, O.
The Treaty of Greenville by a lasting
peace with the In-
dians, in so far as the eastern part of
the Northwest Territory
was concerned, removed that influence
which for six years had
prevented the development of the colony
planted in the Miami
Country and for the first time since the
beginning of the move-
ment started in 1788, was it possible to
extend settlements unin-
terrupted into that region. At the time
of the treaty there were
gathered under the protection of Fort
Washington and close
to the stockades of Columbia, North
Bend, and the dozen or
more stations of the Miami Country,
several hundred anxious
settlers who hailed that event as the
beginning of an era of peace
and security and an opportunity for
better times. "The return
of peace gave them new ambitions and new
hopes." They re-
moved from their forts into the adjacent
country, selected farms,
built cabins, and began to subdue the
forests.1
So sudden was this movement that, for a
time, we have the
curious phenomenon of settlements like
Cincinnati, North Bend
and Columbia in a new and growing
country actually losing a
large part of their population. In
evidence of this, Judge Symmes
wrote to Jonathan Dayton, August 6th,
1795, that North Bend
was reduced more than one-half in its
number of inhabitants
since he had left to go to New Jersey in
February, 1893; that
the people had spread themselves into all
parts of the purchase
below the military range since the
Indian defeat on the 20th of
August; and that the cabins were
deserted by dozens in a street.2
What had in some measure contributed to
this exodus was the
demand that he had made on all volunteer
settlers to go out and
1 Cincinnati Directory 1819, page 29.
2Miller; Cincinnati's Beginnings, page
219.
484
The Development of the Miami
Country. 485
improve on their forfeitures in the
course of the year, as the
truce with the Indians afforded a very
favorable opportunity for
the purpose.
News of the treaty also accelerated the
westward movement
and deflected to the Northwest
Territory, many of those who
otherwise probably would have gone into
Kentucky. Besides,
many people who had settled in Kentucky
during the Indian wars
crossed the Ohio and founded new homes
in the Northwest Ter-
ritory.3 Four important
centers of settlement within the present
limits of Ohio received the newcomers;
the Western Reserve in
the neighborhood of Cleveland, the
Marietta district, the Scioto
district in the neighborhood of
Chillicothe, and the Miami
Country.
For a time these settlers were engaged
almost exclusively
in the primitive occupations of the
wilderness. They built their
cabins and made for themselves a rude
sort of necessary furniture
and utensils. A deadening was commenced
which later developed
into a clearing and a crop of Indian
corn was planted to supply
the necessities of the family. But in
the meantime the pioneer
was a hunter as well as a primitive kind
of a farmer. For sev-
eral seasons his time was occupied with
clearing the forest,
securing a sufficient food supply, and
possibly improving his
cabin so that it would be more
habitable. Under such circum-
stances his limitations (lid not permit
him to produce a surplus
and so he was compelled to buy little or
nothing. Store goods
being thus denied him, he and his family
were compelled to be
manufacturers of a primitive sort. They
dressed in clothing
made of skins or flax raised and spun
and woven at home; and
an important step in advance was made
when a few sheep were
secured and linsey woolsey was
substituted for cloth of pure flax.
Perhaps the pioneer was a squatter, or
may be he had enough
money to make the first payment on his
land and thus held the
title.
From the very beginning of this great
rush of individual
settlers "men of capital and
enterprise in the older settlements
3The writer has a personal acquaintance
with families in south-
western Ohio whose ancestors came from
the Middle States via Ken-
tucky. His own maternal ancestors were
among the number.
486 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
became interested in securing claims and
titles to extensive bodies
of land and in leading forth colonies
for their occupation."4
Seventeen days after the conclusion of
the treaty of Greenville,
one of these companies composed of a
number of gentlemen
prominent in the affairs of the
Northwest Territory made a joint
purchase of land from John Cleves Symmes
and laid out the
town of Dayton at the junction of the
Great Miami and Mad
Rivers. Those interested were Winthrop
Sargent, Secretary of
the Territory; General James Wilkinson,
Jonathan Dayton, one
of the original owners of the Miami
Purchase, and Israel Lud-
low. Ludlow had already identified
himself with the early his-
tory of Cincinnati by surveying the
original town plat and
establishing Ludlow's Station, now
Cumminsville. In December,
1794, he had laid out the town of
Hamilton, under the protection
of Fort Hamilton on the Great Miami, and
now he was called
upon to lay out what was to become the
second city of importance
in the Miami Country.
Judge Turner, however, seems to have
anticipated the found-
ers of Dayton, for on the day before
they had completed their
purchase from Symmes the Centienel of
the Northwest Territory
published an advertisement, saying that,
"Encouragement will be
given to the first ten families who will
go and form a station or.
a township of land lying with a front of
several miles upon the
eastern bank of Mad River."5 In
the following March, Robert
Benham, who appears to have been agent
for Turner, advertised
the sale of lots in the town of
Turnerville on Mad or Chillekothi
River.6
An editorial in a frontier newspaper at
the time was an
unusual occurrence, but the rush of
population to the Mad River
country following Wayne's Treaty was of
such importance as to
induce Editor Maxwell, of the Centienel,
to produce the follow-
ing: "It is with great satisfaction
that we can announce to our
readers the rapid strides of population
and improvement on the
frontiers of this country. The banks of
the Mad (or as called
4Monette; History of the Mississippi
Valley, II., p. Ibid. II., p. 312.
5Centienel of the Northwest Territory,
Sept. 5, 1795.
6 Centienel of the Northwest Territory,
March 28, 1796.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 487
by the Indians) Chillekothi River,
display at this moment hopeful
appearances. But yesterday that country
was a waste, the range
of savages and prowling beasts; today we
see stations formed,
towns building, and the population
spreading. At the mouth of
the river on the eastern side now stands
the town of Dayton,
in which are already upwards of forty
cabins and houses, with
the certain prospect of many more. Three
and twenty miles
above this in the forks of the river, a
town called Turnerville
will shortly be laid out on an admired
plan, and from whose
situation many advantages may be
expected, as roads to the
lakes and Pittsburg intersect at this
point. Stations in the neigh-
borhood are already in forwardness, and
a mill will shortly be
built on a fine never failing seat
within a mile or two from town.
Two stores of goods will be opened there
in the course of the
spring. * * Thus we have a certain prospect of a
flourish-
ing frontier, that in the case of a
renewal of Indian hostilities,
will be a shield to the older and more
popular settlements within
the Miami Purchase."7
Two years later the town of Waynesville
was located in the
wilderness on the banks of the Little
Miami, and individual set-
tlers were then pushing on up the valley
of that river. In the
opening year of the new century we find
Judge Symmes again
interested in a personal endeavor to
extend the frontier. The
Western Spy of March 26th, 1800, contains a
communication
from him calling a meeting at John
Lyons' tavern on Millcreek
of those gentlemen who intended to
become adventurers on
"Scioto and Whetstone waters"
to enter into articles of regu-
lation, elect a foreman and inform each
other who will furnish
wagons, oxen or horses, for the purpose
of transporting utensils
of husbandry and provisions to the new
settlement. In one
week after the meeting the party was to
march in a body to
the place of settlement with their
wagons, pack horses, cattle,
sheep and hogs.8
But these ambitious town builders were
compelled to wait
for a further agricultural development
before their dreams could
Ibid. April 2, 1796.
Western Spy, March 26, 1800.
488 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
be realized. At first the best that they
could hope for was a
limited population of the squatter class
and possibly an occa-
sional farmer, who settled at or near
one of these proposed towns
in hopes of a larger social intercourse
than could be secured on a
wilderness farm.
Notwithstanding the great movement of
population to the
Northwest Territory, the area of
unoccupied land was so great
that for many years after the treaty of
Greenville most of the
country was sparsely settled and large
areas of native forest
remained untouched. A
traveler passing in a northwesterly
direction from Manchester to the Little
Miami River in 1797,
found but one cabin on the trace between
those points. That was
built by Mr. Van Metre, about seven
miles from where New-
market, Highland County, now is. On the
Little Miami a man
by the name of Wood had built a mill and
there were several
cabins in that vicinity. On the return
trip he passed but two
homes between Cincinnati and
Chillicothe.9 A traveler who
passed down the Ohio in 1797
remarked that "this tract
of country lying between the two Miamis
is the only prop-
erly settled country on the north side
of the Ohio; for though
there are a few scattered plantations
along the banks of the
Ohio, and on some of the rivers which
run into it, yet they are
too widely diffused to assume any
corporate form."10 Yet
at
this time the whole southern bank of the
Ohio from Limestone
to Louisville had begun to assume a
civilized appearance.11
During the first five years following
the treaty of Greenville
about 30,000 settlers found their way
into Ohio and thus raised
the population from about 15,000 in 1795
to about 45,000 in
1800, a gain of two hundred per cent. Of
this number 14,629
were living in Hamilton County. It must
be remembered. how-
ever, that at that time Hamilton County
practically included the
Miami Country. Its eastern boundary was
identical with the
present eastern boundary of Clermont
County to the northeast
corner of that county, and from there it
extended north to the
9 American Pioneer, Vol. I., pp.
156-158.
10 Baily: Journal of a Tour, p. 210.
11 Ibid. p. 194.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 489
Indian treaty line. The treaty line
formed its northern and
western boundaries and Hamilton County
thus included a small
part of what is now southeastern
Indiana. This gave Hamilton
County at that time an area of about
4,000 square miles and a
population of a little over three and a
half persons per square
mile. Those parts of the Miami Country
west of the Great
Miami and north of the latitude of
Dayton were almost entirely
unoccupied.
The land law of 1800 did much to
accelerate the movement
of population into the Miami Country;
and that speculation in
land became a flourishing business is
indicated by the nu-
merous newspaper advertisements of the
time. For the next
few years almost every edition of the
Cincinnati papers con-
tained numerous advertisements of land
for sale. Many of them
were for tracts of from 500 to 2,000 acres,
although smaller
tracts were sometimes offered. Proximity
to a mill site or a
navigable stream, or on a road recently
laid out, or near a com-
munity already somewhat settled added
much to the value of
the land. Although a large area had been
opened to settlement
by the land law of 1800 and the minimum
price had been fixed
at two dollars per acre, the price
continued to advance, especially
near the few towns that were beginning
to become local centers
of trade and industry.12 In
1805 good land near the mouth of
the Great Miami was offered at $6.50 per
acre, but as late as
1809 uncleared land could be purchased
as low as $5.00 per
acre.13
By 1805 immigration to Ohio
and the Miami Country was
truly astonishing. "New settlement and improvements were
springing up along the banks of the
Ohio; and the busy hum
of civilization was heard where silence
had reigned for ages
except when broken by the scream of the
panther, the howl of
the wolf or the yell of the
savage."14 In the distance between
Cincinnati and Limestone there were no
less than twelve towns,
some of which were of considerable
importance. A traveler
12 Western Spy and Miami Gazette, Nov.
1815.
13 Melish; Travels in the United States,
II., p. 129.
14 American Pioneer I., p. 98.
490 Ohio Arch. and Hist..
Society Publications.
estimated that from 20,000 to 30,000
immigrants had come into
Ohio within that year. Many of them who
settled in southern
Ohio came from the Southern States, from
whence they had emi-
grated to escape the environment of
slavery.15 One ferry at Cin-
cinnati within eight months of 1805 transported 2,629 immigrants
from the Southern States. Of that number
North Carolina fur-
nished 463, South Carolina 669, Kentucky
568, Tennessee 200,
Virginia 465 and Georgia 264.16 It is
difficult to say what propor-
tion of this population from the South
settled in the Miami Coun-
try, but it must have been small in
comparison with the number
of settlers arriving from the free
Middle States. In 1825 the immi-
grants from the Southern States and
their descendants then living
in Cincinnati formed but fourteen per
cent. of the population.17
In Clermont County, adjoining Hamilton
County on the east
and comprising a part of the Virginia
Military District, the South
furnished twenty-five per cent. of the
population that settled
there before 1816.18 The eastern part of
the Virginia Military
District probably received a greater
proportion of settlers from
the South.
At this time Dayton and Lebanon were the
most important
centers of population in the interior.
In 1806 Dayton contained
about forty houses, was situated in the
midst of a prosperous
farming community and an excellent
beaten public road, the
borders of which were sprinkled with
settlements, and neat and
improved farms connected that settlement
with Hamilton. Leb-
anon with a church and school house and
a population of about
200 inhabitants, living in neat log and
frame houses, was situ-
ated in the midst of a fine agricultural
region that had been set-
tled within five years.19 Settlement was not so rapid toward the
Indian line and not until 1806 was
Eaton, the first town west of
the Great Miami, laid out. As usual, the
proprietor, William
Bruce, was offering free lots to actual
settlers who would build
15 Espy; Memorandum of a Tour, p. 22.
16Western Spy and Miami Gazette, Jan. 8,
1806.
17Cincinnati Directory, 1825.
18Rocky and Bancroft, History of
Clermont County.
19 Ash; Travels in the United States
II., p. 252.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 491
a cabin 16 by 18 within six months.20
Other towns not hereto-
fore mentioned that were marked on Rufus
Putnam's map pub-
lished in 1804, were Newtown,
Williamsburg and Deerfield.
This map prepared by the Surveyor
General of the United
States near the beginning of the
century, located in all but ten
towns in the Miami Country and none of
them, except Cincinati,
were much more than collections of log
cabins.
This great increase in population in the
Miami Country be-
tween 1795 and 1805 must have meant
considerable agricultural
development and the production of a
surplus that the farmer
would desire to exchange for commodities
that he could not pro-
duce. This called for a trade center
wherein the produce of the
legion might be brought for export and
which also could be
used as a point of distribution for
imported goods. As the
location of Fort Washington at
Cincinnati had given that place
an advantage over other points in the
Symmes Purchase during
the Indian Wars, and as the location in
relation to the rest of
the Miami Country was the most
accessible point on the Ohio
to the largest area of that region,
Cincinnati from the beginning
was the metropolis of the Miami Country.
For the first ten years following the
treaty of Greenville
the growth of Cincinnati was slower than
for any succeeding
period of its early development, nor did
it in any way keep up
with the development of the Miami
Country. In 1795 the popu-
lation was about 500. By 1805 it had
increased to about 960.
This was an average increase of 46
persons, or less than ten per
cent. per year. In all it amounted to
90.2 per cent. in ten years,
whereas the increase of the Miami
Country for the same period
was about 480 per cent. This relatively
slow increase may be
easily understood when we remember that
in 1795 the Miami
Country outside of the few settlements
on or near the Ohio was
an uninhabited region and could supply
nothing that could fur-
nish the basis of commercial life.
Before there could be any
considerable growth in the chief town or
in any other town
of the region, there first must be
developed the agricultural basis.
Cincinnati in a great measure seemed to
have been playing a
20 Western Spy and Miami Gazette, March
25, 1806.
492 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
waiting game while this preliminary
house-raising, and clearing
and planting was going on. She could do
nothing else. She
received great numbers of immigrants and
retained but a few
of them.
A few incomplete pictures have been left
that may in some
degree assist us in an appreciation of
the growth of Cincinnati
during the first decade following the
treaty. In 1795 the 500
inhabitants were housed in 94 log cabins
and 10 frame houses
and the public improvements besides Fort
Washington con-
sisted of an unfinished frame
school-house, a strong log building
occupied as a jail and a Presbyterian
church. The jail was orna-
mented with a pillory, stocks, and
whipping post. The church
was a building 40 by 30, enclosed
with clap-boards, neither
lathed, plastered nor ceiled. The floor
was of boat plank laid
loosely on sleepers and the seats were
of the same material sup-
ported by blocks of wood.21
By 1805 the log cabins of Cincinnati had
decreased to 53
and the frame buildings then numbered 109. There were
also
six brick and four stone houses. The
town boated of two
churches, a court house and a prison.
Large warehouses had
arisen near the water for the storing of
groceries and merchan-
dize, brought up in barges and keel
boats from New Orleans.22
Probably the most significant change to
be noticed, however,
was the abandonment of Fort Washington,
which occurred in
1803. Like all other frontier forts of
its kind, the time had come,
when no longer needed, it was falling
into decay. In 1808 the
government sold the property and the
land was soon afterward
divided into city lots. "The
enlivening notes of the fife and drum
at reveille were no longer heard, and
the loud booming of the
morning gun as it rolled its echoes
along the hills and the wind-
ing shores along the river had ceased to
awaken the inhabitants
from their slumbers. * * *
The enlivening hum of com-
merce was now beginning to be heard on
the landings, while the
bustle and hurry of hundreds of
immigrants thronged the streets
Cincinnati Directory 1819, p. 29.
Burnet; Notes on the Settle-
ment of the Northwest Territory, pp. 34
and 35.
22 American Pioneer, Vol I., p. 98.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 493
as they took their departure for the
rich valleys on the banks of
the Miamis.23
The streets, however, were yet in a
state of nature and the
roads consisted of traces of narrow
pathways, almost impassable
on account of mud, stumps and roots. In
what is now the very
heart of the city many of the forest
trees were still standing and
the trunks of others which had been cut
down encumbered the
ground for several years afterwards.24 Such in brief, was the
metropolis of the Miami Country ten
years after the treaty of
Greenville.
We have seen that the decade between
1795 and 1805 was a
period of locating first settlements and
clearing new farms. A
few towns were located and the more
important roads were
marked out. The production of a surplus
was begun, a com-
mercial system had been organized and
the manufacture of a
few articles had commenced on a small
scale. Yet the entire
region retained its former character and
the development of the
Miami Country was only begun.
By 1805 all of those western influences
that affected immi-
gration were in full force. The first
break into the wilderness
had been made, it was seen that the land
would produce
abundantly, favorable land laws had been
passed, Ohio had
become a state, and the annexation of
Louisiana had given us
the free navigation of the Mississippi
River. These influences,
combined with the decline of commerce
and the hard times that
followed as a result of the Embargo of
1807, sent an increasing
number of settlers into the West, and no
section profited by this
more than did the Miami Country.
Between 18oo and 1810 Hamilton County
had been subdi-
vided by the admission of Ohio and by
the formation of new
counties. Eight of these new counties
lie entirely within the
original boundaries of Hamilton County
and in 1810 returned
a population of 75,349, or more than
one-third of the population
of the entire state. This was an average
of a little more than
twenty-one persons per square mile,
whereas the average of the
23 Mansfield;
Memoirs of Dr. Daniel Drake, p. 48. American Pioneer,
Vol. I., p. 98.
24Cincinnati Directory, 1819, p 29.
494 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
entire state was 5 8/10 per square
mile. Hamilton County
showed a density of 38 persons per
square mile, Butler County
36, Clemont County 24.5, Warren 23,
Greene 17, Montgomery
15, Miami 9.9, Preble 8.2. Within the
present boundaries of
Hamilton County alone there were living
629 more people
than occupied the whole Miami Country a
decade before. The
War of 1812, however, seems to have
retarded immigration to
some extent, as an estimate made in 1815
gave these counties an
increase of but 12,109, and the average density of population was
increased but two per square mile.25
Generally speaking, the growth of the
towns was hardly
keeping pace with the development of the
country, although a
few of them were growing rapidly. In
Dayton the number of
houses had been doubled within three
years, and in 1809 it
contained a brick court house and four
other brick buildings.
South of Third Street was called
Cabin-town, while on Main
Street were located 13 log cabins, two
frame and two small
brick houses, a tavern and a court
house.26 Within the same
period the number of houses in Lebanon
had increased from
about forty to about one hundred; Xenia,
in the midst of a
good wheat region, boasted of fifty;
Springfield and Williams-
burg had about the same number; while
Franklin and Urbana
had about sixty houses each and were
rapidly increasing. Col-
umbia and Hamilton both seemed to suffer
by the influence
of more favorably situated Cincinnati. Columbus, although
established more than twenty years,
contained but forty houses,
and Hamilton, the first town to be laid
out in the interior of
the Miami Country after Wayne's victory,
had ten or fifteen.27
By 1815 there were about ten towns in
the Miami Country
that contained forty or more houses, but
not more than four of
them, except Cincinnati, contained as
many as 100.28 Greenville,
Troy and Wilmington were as yet only
villages of a few cabins.29
E. Dana, Geographical Sketches of the
Western Country, pp. 72
and 73.
26 Memoirs of Thomas Morrison,
Unpublished Ms.
Cutler, Description of Ohio, pp. 41-46.
28Killbourn, Ohio Gazeteer.
29Drake, Cincinnati, 1815.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 495
The general advance of the section is
probably well indi-
cated in the rise in value of real
estate. The following estimate
was made by Dr. Drake in 1815: Within
three miles of Cin-
cinnati the price of good unimproved
land was between $50
and $150 per acre. From this limit to the
extent of twelve miles
from the city land ranged in value from
$10 to $30 per acre.
Near the principal villages of the Miami
County the price was
from $20 to $40 per acre,
and in more remote sections from $4
to $8. An average for the settled
portions of the Miami Coun-
try for fertile and uncultivated land,
may be stated at $8.oo per
acre, and if cultivated at $12.00 per acre.
This rapid development of the Miami
Country soon brought
about the production of an ever
increasing surplus that furnished
the basis of a commerce that was to
build up Cincinnati at the
metropolis of the Miami Country. The
very slow growth of
that city during the first decade
following the treaty of Green-
ville has already been noted, but by 1805 products were
flowing
in that direction for export in such
quantity as greatly to in-
crease the commerce, and accelerate the
growth of population.
The census of 1810 returned a population
of 2,320, which showed
a gain of 201 per cent, within five years; while within the pre-
ceding decade the gain had been but 90
per cent. The War of
1812, however, seems to have retarded
slightly the growth of
population in the metropolis, as well as
in the contributing re-
gion. But regardless of that the
population had grown to about
6,ooo by 1815. This was a gain of 158
per cent. or about 43
per cent. less than for the preceding
five years.
In 1808 a traveler described Cincinnati
as covering more
ground and seeming to contain nearly as
many houses as Lexing-
ton. Many of the houses were of brick,
generally well built,
and had an air of neatness about them
that was characteristic
of Connecticut and New Jersey, from
which many of the settlers
came. Some of the new brick houses were
three stories high,
with flat roofs, and one four stories
high was then building.
The Burnet residence, at Third and Vine,
and the Suydam resi-
dence, where Sedamsville is now located,
were the most im-
posing.30
30 Cuming's Tour, Thwaite's Travels,
Vol. IV., pp. 256 and 257.
496 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
In 1810 the residents of Cincinnati were
domiciled in 360
dwelling houses, chiefly of brick and
wood; about two-thirds
of them were in the bottom; the rest
were "on the hill." Main
Street, the principal street, was well
built up to Sixth or Seventh,
but as yet all of the streets were
unimproved. The town con-
tained a court house, three market
houses, two printing offices,
a bank of issue and about thirty
mercantile stores.31
For a knowledge of Cincinnati
immediately before and after
the War of 1812, we are largely indebted
to Dr. Daniel Drake,
one of the most honored citizens of
early Cincinnati. As a boy
he settled there when it was a small
village composed largely
of log cabins. He continued to reside in
Cincinnati with the
exception of a brief interval until the
time of his death some-
time in the fifties; and in his time no
man surpassed Dr. Drake
in promoting the economic and
intellectual welfare of the com-
munity of his adoption. In 1810 he
published Notices Concern-
ing Cincinnati, the first of a long line of books, describing the
Queen City of the West. This little book
gives but a brief
glimpse of our frontier metropolis, as
the most of it is taken
up with topographical and other physical
conditions, of the
Miami Country. Five years later, Dr.
Drake published A Nat-
ural and Statistical View of
Cincinnati, which gives a good pic-
ture of this youthful western city. It
was written for the pur-
pose of encouraging immigration, but its
evident honesty and
sincerity is in strange contrast with
pamphlets that have been
issued by some boom towns of a more
recent period. To it we
must turn for the chief facts about the
subject of our study at
the close of the War of 1812.
By this time the population of
Cincinnati was not far from
that of Pittsburg, and by 1820 it exceeded that
of Pittsburg by
2,359. It extended a half mile back from
the river and occu-
pied nearly a mile of the river front.
Of its 1,100 houses, twenty
were stone, 250 brick and 800 wood.
There were four places
31 Drake, Notices concerning Cincinnati,
p. 29. Melish, Travels in
the United States II., p. 126. Cutler,
Description of Ohio, pp. 43, 44.
Cramer. The Navigator for 1811, pp. 111,
113. The Cincinnati Pioneer
for April, 1874, p. 11.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 497
of public worship and the Cincinnati
Lancaster Seminary was
housed in a commodious building that
would accommodate 900
students.32
For some years after the war there was a
regular influx
of immigrants to Cincinnati. For a
period of five years the
increase in population was more than 700 annually. A
visitor
has left us the following flattering
description of conditions in
1817. "Cincinnati * * * a most
thriving place, backed as
it is already by a great population and
a most fruitful country,
bids fair to be one of the first cities
of the West. We are told
and we cannot doubt the fact,,that the
chief of what we see
is the work of four years. The hundreds
of commodious, well
finished brick houses, the spacious and
busy markets, the sub-
stantial public buildings, the thousands
of prosperous well
dressed, industrious habits, the
numerous wagons and drays,
the gay carriages and elegant females, *
* * the shoals of
craft on the river, the busy stir
prevailing everywhere, houses
building, boat building, paving and
leveling streets, the num-
bers of country people, constantly
coming and going, with the
spacious taverns, crowded with travelers
from a distance."
Another said that the "general
appearance is clean and hand-
some, indeed elegant and astonishing
when we reflect that less
than forty years ago it was the resort
of Indians and the whole
surrounding country a wilderness full of
wild beasts and sav-
ages."
This westward movement had been
continuous but not
regular. We have seen that it was for a
time checked by the
War of 1812, but by 1813 the hard times
in the seaboard states
was so severe as to accelerate the great
exodus to the West that
was to continue for the next six years,
cause the admission of
six new states and bring about a contest
over the extension of
slavery into Missouri.33
Between 1815 and 1820 immigration to the
Miami Country
was so rapid that by the latter date it
contained nearly. 200.000
people; and it was stated that the
growth of population in the
32 Drake, Cincinnati 1815, p. 136.
33 McMaster, History of the People, Vol.
IV., pp. 382, 383.
Vol. XVIII-32.
498
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Miami Country had been so rapid that
many good towns and
villages had risen on different streams,
but a few miles distant
from each other, between which there was
hardly any road or
communication.34
The same author in describing the road
leading from Cin-
cinnati to Lebanon said, "We pass
through a thickly, but lately
settled country, frame and log houses,
and cabins, and fine farms
of corn, wheat, rye and oats; * * *
the smoke of the fire
made in burning the trees and underwood
rising around us, and
large fields of naked trunks and
branches of the girdled trees,
meet the eye at every turn of the
road."
Lebanon seems to have been a
particularly attractive place
for settlers and travelers alike.
Birkbeck, who visited it in 1817,
describes it as one of those wonders
which are the natural growth
of the back woods. In fourteen years it
had grown from two or
three cabins of half savage hunters, to
be the residence of a
thousand persons, with habits and looks
in no way differing from
their brethren from the East.35 At
this time Lebanon contained
a court house, a jail, two churches, a
school, a postoffice, a print-
ing office, a public library and a bank
with a capital of $250,000.
Franklin with 55 families and
Waynesville were the other towns
of importance in Warren County.36
Dayton claimed 130 dwellings and
contained a court house,.
two churches and an academy, a library,
a postoffice, a printing
office and several grist and saw mills
were located near the town.37
Hamilton had become a place of 75
buildings and the other chief
towns of Butler County were Rossville,
Oxford and Middle-
town.38 Williamsburg and
Milford were the only important
places in Clermont County,39 while
Greenville in Darke County,
was only a village of a few cabins.40
Wilmington, in Clinton
County, contained something more than
forty houses, and was
34
Palmer, Journal of Travels in the United States, p. 90.
35 Birkbeck
Travels, p. 80.
36 Brown, Western Gazeteer, p. 291.
Ibid, p. 290.
38 Ibid, p. 283.
39 Ibid, p. 293.
40 Ibid, p. 294.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 499
the only town in the county worth mentioning. Eaton, in Preble
County, had increased to only about 35
houses within the eleven
years of its existence.41 Besides
Cincinnati, the chief towns in
Hamilton County were, Columbia, Newtown,
Reading, Mont-
gomery, Springfield, Colerain, Harrison,
Crosby and Cleves.42
Probably no section of the country grew
more rapidly than
that part of southeastern Indiana
immediately contiguous to
Cincinnati. Rising Sun was laid out in 1814 and contained
forty
or fifty houses in 1816.43 By 1819 it
contained more than 1oo
houses, and afforded employment for
several traders and a
number of mechanics.44 Brookville did not contain more than
twenty houses in 1815, but by 1819 it
had increased to more
than 1oo and had two grist mills, two
saw mills, three fulling
mills and three carding machines.45
Lawrenceburg had doubled
its population within thirty months and
contained a population of
700 inhabitants in 1819.46 By 1817 the
whole country along the
Ohio River between Madison and
Cincinnati was appropriated
and such was the influx of strangers
into that part of Indiana
that the industry of the settlers was
severely taxed to provide
food for themselves and the newcomers.47
That section of country bordering on the
Ohio River for
twenty-five miles on either side of
Cincinnati and extending back
about one hundred miles (the Miami
Country) was described
as being an excellent body of land, well
settled, though but small
improvements had been made except in a
few places near the
towns. The price of land varied much
according to situation.
Farms which were called improved could
be bought at from $8
to $30 per acre. The improvements,
however, often consisted of
rough log buildings and from 12 to 20 acres under middling
cultivation. A better class of farms had
from twenty to fifty
41 Brown, Western Gazeteer, p. 284.
42 Ibid, p. 275.
43Thomas, Travels through the Western
Country, p. 111.
44E. Dana, Geographical Sketches, p.
117.
45 E. Dana, Geographical Sketches, p.
46 Dana, Geographical Sketches, p. 114.
47Birkbeck, Travels, pp. 90, 91.
500 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
acres under cultivation. Grazing was
still the chief occupation
on the prairies near the headwaters of
the Miamis.48
Along with this economic advance there
was an evolution
in social and intellectual conditions.
The manners that had been
acquired and the ignorance that had been
induced while settlers
were living in forts and getting their
bread and meat at the peril
of their lives, and even later when
almost all of the people were
battling with the wilderness, were fast
disappearing. As culti-
vated farms took the place of forests
and towns sprung up,
schools and even libraries were
established, and a limited educa-
tion and some culture took the place of
the ignorance and rude
life of the frontier.49
In the interior, however, there
continued to be found the
various types of settlers characteristic
of the frontier. Travelers
have generally divided them into three
classes: "First, the squat-
ter, or man who 'sets himself down,'
upon land which is not his
own, and for which he pays nothing;
cultivates a sufficient extent
to supply himself and family with the
necessaries of life; re-
mains until he is dissatisfied with his
choice;-had realized a
sufficiency to become a land-owner;-or
is expelled by the real
proprietor. Second, the small farmer who has recently emi-
grated, had barely sufficient to pay the
first instalment for his
80 or 16o acres of two dollar land;
cultivates, or what he calls
improves, ten to thirty acres; raises a
sufficient 'feel' for his
family; has the females of it employed
in making or patching
the wretched clothing of the whole
domestic circle; is in a con-
dition which, if compelled by
legislative acts, or by external
force to endure, would be considered
truly wretched; but from
being his own master, having made his
own choice, from the
having 'no one to make him afraid,'
joined with the conscious-
ness that, though slowly, he is
regularly advancing towards
wealth; the breath of complaint is
seldom heard to escape from
his lips. Third, the wealthy or
'strong-handed' farmer, who owns
from five to twelve hundred acres, has
one-fourth to one-third
under cultivation, of a kind much
superior to the former; raises
48 Fearson, Sketches of America, pp.
218, 219.
49 Western Spy, Nov. 28th, 1817.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 501
live stock for the home, and Atlantic
city markets; sends beef,
pork, cheese, lard, and butter to New
Orleans; is perhaps a
legislator, at any rate a squire
(magistrate); is always a man of
plain business-like sense, though not in
possession, nor desirous
of a very cultivated intellect;
understands his own interest, and
that of his country; lives in sufficient
affluence, and is possessed
of comfort; but, in conclusion, and a
most important conclusion
it is, the majority of this class of men
were, ten or fifteen years
ago, inhabitants of the western states,
and not worth, upon their
arrival in Ohio, twenty dollars."
Another characteristic of western
development, especially
between 1814 and 1820, was the platting
of new towns. More
than thirty towns were laid out within
that time in the territory
immediately contiguous to Cincinnati.
Some of them still exist
as prosperous towns or villages, while
others have long since
been forgotten. Among the towns
established within that period
that are still thriving communities are
Rising sun, Carthage, New
Richmond, Batavia.
An enterprising proprietor of a tract of
land that was sit-
uated in a region already somewhat
settled and favorably located
on a navigable stream, near a mill site,
or on an established
highway, would see a chance for
increasing his wealth by the rise
in value of real estate. He would employ
a surveyor and have
a portion of his land laid out in town
lots, then advertise in a
Cincinnati newspaper, setting forth the
advantages of the pro-
posed town and announcing that on a
certain date lots would be
sold at auction on the premises, usually
on a credit of six months
or a year. The following announcement of
the founding of
Batavia in Clermont County is a fair
illustration: "The town
of Batavia is situated on the east fork
of the Little Miami River,
in Clermont County, State of Ohio, on
the farm of George Ely.
The situation of this place is probably
the most eligible for a
town of any in this county, being in the
center of a very pros-
perous neighborhood, which abounds in
wealth and affluence;
and a more moral and agreeable
neighborhood is not to be found
in the western country. It is situated
in a place remarkable for
health, on a high and level bottom, on
the bank of a stream di-
rectly straight the whole length of the
town, sufficient for carry-
502
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ing mills and machinery of every
description, with eight or ten
springs that never fail within the
limits of said town, * * *
It is within a mile of a merchant mill
that grinds the whole year
and two saw mills are within that
distance. * * * The post
road from Cincinnati to Chillicothe will
run through the
place."50
Some of these land owners dreamed of
towns on a magnifi-
cent scale that were never realized. One
James Allison, of Cin-
cinnati, owned a tract of land near the
upper course of the East
Fork of the Little Miami. On November
15, 1814, he advertised
the platting of the new town of
Allisonia on a most liberal plan.
Central to the town was to be a spacious
square 660 feet each
way, to be kept open forever and
communicating with twelve
streets which enter at the angles. The
narrow street was to be
one hundred feet wide, so that there
might be on each side room
for a single or double row of trees. Two
spaces, 120 by 420 feet
each, were reserved for markets and lots
were also reserved for
churches, schools and a jail and court
house. Several courts and
open spaces, all intended as well to
suit the inclination of resi-
dents as to diversity, ventilate and
embellish the place, were re-
served for public use. None of them were
ever to be deformed
or encumbered with buildings of any
description, whether court
house, jail, places of worship, butchers
shambles, or otherwise.51
It is needless to say that they were not
so encumbered, as it is
probable that the oldest inhabitant has
no recollection of this
magnificent town that existed only in
the mind of the ambitious
proprietor.
While many of these speculations failed,
many prospered
and are today the centers of thriving
communities. A contem-
porary has given us a most interesting
account of the rise and
development of these frontier
towns. "a storekeeper builds
a little framed store, and sends for a
few cases of goods;
and then a tavern starts up, which
becomes the residence
of a doctor and a lawyer, and the
boarding-house of the store-
keeper, as well as the resort of the
weary traveler; soon follow
50 Liberty Hall, October 25, 1814.
51 Liberty Hall, Nov. 15, 1814.
The Development of the Miami
Country. 503
a blacksmith and other handicraftsmen in
useful succession: a
schoolmaster, who is also the minister
of religion, becomes an
important accession to this rising
community. Thus the town
proceeds, if it proceeds at all, with
accumulating force, until it
becomes the metropolis of the
neighborhood. * * * Thus
trade begins and thrives, as population
grows around these lucky
spots; imports and exports maintaining
their just 'proportion.
* * * The town being fairly established,
a cluster of inhabi-
tants, small as it may be, acts as a
stimulus on the cultivation of
the neighborhood: redundancy of supply
is the consequence,
and this demands a vent. Water mills, or
in defect of water
power, steam mills, rise on the nearest
navigable stream, and thus
an effectual and constant market is
secured for the increasing
surplus of produce. Such are the
elements of that accumulating
mass of commerce, in exports, and
consequent imports, which
will render the Mississippi the greatest
thoroughfare in the
world."52
52 Birkbeck:
Water on a journey in America, p. 104-105.