Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/672

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��IIISTOIIY OF lUCIILAND COUNTY

��the Clear Fork and Black Fork is mentioned, the width being 140 links. In running the south boundary going west, he came to an old Indian path or trail leading north and south, per- haps to the Grelloway settlement of the Wal- honding. The land of Hanover is described as Ixung rugged and poor, with stunted timber, much burnt on the northeast part of the town- ship.

Hanover was organized October 4, 1818, out of the southern lialf of Greene. The surface is l)roken and hilly ; some of the lofty and pre- cipitous hills reaching an altitude attaining the real grandeur of mountains. A considerable portion of its surface is not, therefore, adapted to cultivation, though there are many farms in the valley's not surpassed in fertility by any in other townships. A great deal of the land is bet- ter adapted to grazing. Clear Fork enters the township near the northwest corner, flowing southeasterly about five miles, when it unites with the Black Fork. As this stream is con- fined among the hills and the fall is rapid, it furnishes excellent water-power, which is suffi- cient the year round to run any number of mills. The Black Fork enters the township at Loudon ville, and pursues a southwesterly course until it unites with the Clear Fork.

The early settlers of the township were Sam- uel Garrett, 1825, Section 11 ; Nathaniel Has- kell, 1820; John Hildebrand, 1823; Mark Mapes, 1822 ; James Loudon Priest, 1810 ; George Snyder, 1818 ; Stephen Butler and family, Caleb Chappel and family, 1814.

The township being a little out of the line of travel, and not quite as inviting in appear- ance as some others, was not settled so early nor so rapidly.

Of these settlers, Mr. Garrett served in the Revolutionary w^ar, in the Life Guard of Gen. Washington, and states that upon his discharge he was paid off in Continental money, which was so worthless that it would not purchase him a single meal. Mr. Haskell was one of the

��first merchants and millers in the township, and was engaged in freighting to New Orleans by flatboats, shipping pork, flour and whisky. Flour then cost $2.50 to $3 per barrel, and In-ought in New Orleans $5 and $6. Mr. Priest immortalized his name b}' laying out the town of Loudonville. He first settled in Lake Towmship, building the first caliin in that town- ship, and becoming its first Justice of the Peace. During the Indian troubles, he erected a fort upon his premises, for the safety of his family and those of his neighbors.

Mr. Snyder was a soldier of the Revolution, and lived to the age of ninety-three.

The township sustains a livel}' and flourish- ing little city, called Loudonville, situated on the line of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chi- cago Railroad. It was laid out August 6, 1814, by Stephen Butler and James Loudon Priest ; the latter gentleman purchasing the northwest quarter of Section 1, upon which Loudonville stands. The first sale of lots was made Sep- tember 14, 1814.

There was one cabin on the site of Loudon- ville before it was laid out, owned by Stephen Butler. It had but one room, but was used as a hotel, and therefore the first hotel in the town which was laid out around^t. Mr. Caleb Chappel, who settled near the town site in 1814, was Mr. Butler's nearest neighbor, and it ap- pears that the latter was the only citizen of the place during that year. He was at that time a Justice of the Peace. Priest lived five miles east, and Mr. Oliver five miles west.

Loudonville, at one time, like all other towns in the new country, expected to be a place of note, and aspired to become the county seat. The "Walhonding Canal" was the thing that was going to make it a city, and although it excited great expectations, they were of short duration. as the project failed for want of proper finan- cial support. Mr. Butler was the first Justice of the Peace, and the only business man in the township for a number of years. Later, Mr.

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