Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Ohio

OHIO, the third of the States of the American Union in point of wealth and population, is situated between 38° 27′ and 41° 57′ N. lat. and between 80° 34′ and 84° 49′ W. long., and is bounded on the N. by Michigan and Lake Erie, on the E. by Pennsylvania, on the E. and S. by the Ohio river, which separates it from the States of West Virginia and Kentucky, and on the W. by Indiana. The greatest length from north to south is about 210 miles, the greatest breadth from east to west about 225 miles and the area 40,760 square miles.

Physical Features.—The surface consists of an undulating plain, generally ranging in elevation between 1550 and 430 feet above sea-level, the portions below 500 feet or above 1400 being comparatively insignificant. The largest connected areas of high land extend from east to west across the central and northern central districts. In some limited districts of central Ohio, especially along the ridge of high land just referred to, and also in a few thousand square miles of north-western Ohio, the natural drainage is somewhat sluggish, and, while the land is covered with its original forest growth, it inclines to swampy conditions; but when the forests are removed and the waterways opened most of it becomes arable, and all of it can be made so without excessive outlay by means of open ditches.

The chief feature in the topography of Ohio is the watershed, which extends across the State from north-east to south-west, and divides its surface into two unequal slopes, the northern, which is much the smaller, sending its waters into Lake Erie and the Gulf of St Lawrence, while the drainage of the other is to the Gulf of Mexico by the Ohio river. The average height of the ridge is about 1100 feet, but it is cut by several gaps, in which the elevation is reduced to about 950 feet. The relief of the State is chiefly due to erosive agencies. The entire drainage area of such a river as, for example, the Muskingum or the Scioto, may be conceived as originally a plain, all portions of which were at approximately the same elevation above the sea. Across this area one main furrow has been drawn, deepening and widening as it advances, and a countless number of narrower and shallower valleys are tributary to it. Fragments of the old plain still remain in the isolated &ldquo;hills&rdquo; or tablelands that bound the valleys, and which, though often separated by intervals of miles, still answer to each other with perfect correspondence of altitude and stratification. They rise to a maximum height of 600 feet above the river-channels in the main valleys.



Geological Map of Ohio.

Geology.—The rocky floor is entirely composed of unaltered stratified rocks of Palæozoic age. Not a single trap dyke or volcanic vent intersects them, and not a trace of igneous metamorphism is shown in any portion of their extent. These strata are disposed in plains so nearly horizontal that the dip is nowhere heavy enough to be safely determined by a clinometer. Not only are sharp flexures wanting, but faults deserving the name are found in but a single corner of a single county. A few low folds, one of which is of preponderating importance, traverse the State and redeem its surface from geological monotony. The only structural irregularity is an occasional case of overlap, but even this is seldom of such a character as to interfere with the easy reading of the record. The aggregate thickness of the entire series will reach 5000 feet if the maximum of each stratum is taken into the account, but if the average measurements are used the thickness does not exceed 3500 feet. The main elements of the scale,

which extends from the Lower Silurian (upper portion) to the Upper Coal-measures inclusive, are given below, and the geological sketch-map shows how the surface of the State is distributed among the principal formations.

Soils, Forests.—The division of the State into a drift-covered and driftless region coincides with the most important division of the soils. Below the line of the terminal moraine these are &ldquo;native,&rdquo; or, in other words, they are derived from the rocks that underlie them, or that rise above them in the boundaries of the valleys and uplands. They consequently share the varying constitution of these rocks, and are characterized by considerable inequality and by abrupt changes. All are fairly productive, and some, especially those derived from the abundant and easily-soluble limestones of the Upper Coal-measures, are not surpassed in fertility by any soils of the State. Large tracts of these excellent native soils are found in Belmont, Monroe, Noble, and Morgan counties. Among the thinner and less productive soils, which occupy but a small area, are those derived from the Devonian shales. They are, however, well adapted to forest and fruit production. The chestnut and the chestnut oak, both valuable timber trees, are partial to them, and vineyards and orchards thrive remarkably. The native soils of the Waverly group and of the Lower Coal-measures agree in general characters. They are especially adapted to forest growth, reaching the highest standard in quality of timber product. When these lands are brought under the exhaustive tillage that has mainly prevailed in Ohio thus far, they do not hold out well, but the farmer who raises cattle and sheep, keeps to a rotation between grass and small grains, and does not neglect fruit can do well upon them. The cheap lands of Ohio are found in this belt. The other great division of the soils of Ohio—viz., the Drift soils—are by far the most important, alike from their greater area and their intrinsic excellence. Formed by the commingling of the Glacial waste of all the formations to the north of them, over which the ice has passed, they always possess considerable variety of composition, but still in many cases they are strongly coloured by the formation underneath them. When any stratum of uniform composition has a broad outcrop across the line of Glacial advance, the Drift beds that cover its southern portions will be found to have been derived in large part from the formation itself, and will thus resemble native or sedentary soils. Western Ohio is underlain with Silurian limestones, and the Drift is consequently limestone Drift. The soil is so thoroughly that of limestone land that tobacco, a crop which rarely leaves native limestone soils, is grown successfully in several counties of western Ohio, 100 miles or more north of the terminal moraine. The native forests of the Drift regions were, without exception, hard-wood forests, the leading species being oaks, maples, hickories, the walnut, beech, and elm. The walnut, sugar maple, and white hickory are limited to warm, well-drained limestone land; the white oak characterizes the upland clays, while the red maple, the elm, and several of the oaks stand for the regions of sluggish drainage. This noble growth is rapidly disappearing, but several million acres still remain.

Climate.—There is a difference of at least 40° Fahr. between the average summer and winter temperatures. A central east-and-west belt of the State is bounded by the annual isotherms of 51° and 52°, the average winter temperature being 30° and the average summer temperature 73°. Southern Ohio has a mean annual temperature of 54°, and northern Ohio 49°. The annual range is not less than 100°, and sometimes 130°, the extreme of summer heat reaching 100° in the shade, while &ldquo;cold waves&rdquo; in winter

may depress the mercury to 30° below zero. Extreme changes are liable to occur in the course of a few hours, especially in winter, when the return trades are violently displaced by north-west winds. In such cases the temperature sometimes falls 60° Fahr. in twenty-four hours; changes of 20° or 30° in a day are not unusual. Still the climate proves itself excellently adapted to the finer growths of vegetation, while its effects on human life and on the domestic animals favour a symmetrical development and a high degree of vigour. The rainfall varies between an average of 46 inches in the Ohio valley and an average of 32 inches on the shore of Lake Erie (spring 10 to 12 inches, summer 10 to 14 inches, autumn 8 to 10 inches, winter 7 to 10 inches). The annual range is considerable. In some years there is an insufficient supply and in some there is a troublesome excess, but disastrous droughts on the large scale are unknown, and disastrous floods are rare. The vast body of water in Lake Erie favourably modifies the climate of the northern margin of the State. The belt immediately adjoining is famous for the fruits that it produces. Extensive vineyards and orchards have been planted along the shore and on the islands adjacent, and have proved very successful. The Catawba wine here grown ranks first among the native wines of eastern North America. Melons of excellent quality are raised in almost every section of the State. The peach is the least certain of all the fruits that are largely cultivated; there is rarely, however, a complete failure on the uplands of southern Ohio. The winters of Ohio are very variable. Snow seldom remains for thirty days at a time over the State at large, but an ice crop rarely fails in northern Ohio, and not oftener than once in three or four years in other portions of the State. In the southern counties cattle, sheep, and horses often thrive on pasture grounds through the entire winter.

Population.—The following table gives the population from 1840 to 1880:&mdash;

In 1880 the coloured population numbered 2½ per cent, of the whole, and the foreign-born 12½ per cent, (from Germany 6 per cent., and from the United Kingdom 4½ per cent.).

Agriculture.—This is the leading industry, employing in 1880 397,495 persons, or about two-fifths of the total number reported as engaged in occupations of all sorts. In 1881 nearly 50,000,000 bushels of wheat and nearly 112,000,000 bushels of Indian corn were produced, the total production of cereals in the State for that year being 188,933,067 bushels, an average of sixty bushels to each inhabitant. The reported orchard products of the year would furnish ten bushels of fruit to each inhabitant, and the dairy products an average of 26 &#x2114;. The domestic animals reach a total of 10,000,000. In number and quality of thorough-bred cattle Ohio is scarcely second to any State; in the average of its herds it ranks second to

Illinois alone. The sheep-growing counties are supplied with the best breeds of sheep, and the wool of south-eastern Ohio has long been famous for unusual strength of fibre. The annual production of wool exceeds 20,000,000 &#x2114;, Ohio holding the first rank in this respect among the States of the Union. In the origination of agricultural 7iiachinery Ohio has taken a leading part, and in the present manufacture it easily holds the first rank, the value of the annual product exceeding $15,500,000, or one-fourth of the entire product of the United States. The average yield of wheat in the State has been doubled within the last ten years through the use of artificial fertilizers and improved methods of cultivation. An efficient system of crop reports is carried on by a State board of agriculture, and thorough control of the artificial manures sold in the State is maintained by constantly repeated chemical analyses. A State meteorological bureau also renders special service to the agricultural interest.

Manufactures, Towns and Cities.—The manufactured products of the State, according to the census of 1880, have more than twice the value of the farm products, reaching an aggregate of nearly $350,000,000. As a necessary result of the recent development of mining and manufacturing in Ohio, its cities and villages are gaining rapidly in population and wealth. Cincinnati, the largest city of the State and the eighth in the Union, had a population of 255,139 by the census of 1880. The same census credits it with about 30 per cent. of the manufactures of the State, but the reports of its chamber of commerce give it a much greater total than the census tables. Cleveland, the second city of Ohio and the eleventh of the United States, had 160,146 inhabitants, Columbus, the State capital, 51,647, and Toledo 50,137. Dayton (38,678) and Springfield (20,730) in south-western Ohio, Youngstown (15,435), Akron (16,512), and Canton (12,258) in the north-eastern quarter of the State, and Zanesville (18,113) in the central district are all thriving and ener getic cities.


 * (E. O.&mdash;J. T. S.)