in 1858, who operated it under the order of the court until the road was sold in 1863. It was purchased by Providence (Rhode Island) capitalists, as trustees of the bondholders, for $411,000. The company was reorganized as the Portsmouth and Newark Railroad Company and sold the property to the Marietta and Cincinnati Railway Company. For twenty years, or until 1883, the line was operated as the Portsmouth branch of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad, when another reorganization was effected under the name of the Cincinnati, Washington and Baltimore Railroad, and in December, 1889, became the acknowledged property of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, which also controlled the line from Chillicothe to Cincinnati.

THE SCIOTO VALLEY ROAD AWAKENS

As stated, it took nearly thirty years before the Valley of the Scioto obtained a direct north and south outlet by rail from the interior of the state to the Ohio River. The old Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad slept for nearly a decade, but toward the close of the Civil war showed such signs of awakening as to let the contract for the grading of a line between Columbus and Chillicothe. That revival was in August, 1865, and was shortly afterward succeeded by a calmness which resembled stupor. In 1869 it was suggested that the Cleveland and Columbus take over the enterprise as a feeder, but nothing tangible came of such propositions until the Lake Shore, Columbus and Portsmouth Railroad was chartered in 1870.

Within the following two years that foreign concern created such a railroad fever in the Scioto Valley that Scioto, Pike and Ross counties voted generous subscriptions to build the Chillicothe-Columbus line; but Pikaway voted against it. In 1873 the work of securing the right-of-way progressed, and in 1874 Portsmouth raised a private subscription of $130,000.

Such tangible friendliness toward railroad building aroused the old Scioto Valley Railroad Company. As a home concern it claimed the right-of-way and the subscriptions gathered by the Lake Shore, Columbus and Portsmouth Railroad were finally turned over to the old company.

NORFOLK AND WESTERN LINES

The reorganized Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad of 1875 was headed by T. Ewing as president, and by August of that year the line was put under contract from Columbus to Chillicothe and was completed in June, 1876. In April, 1877, grading for the

road was commenced in Scioto County. On the 10th of that month, at 2 o'clock P. M., ground was broken on the City Hospital grounds in the presence of 2,000 people. On the 4th of November, 1877, the Scioto Railroad was in running order between Portsmouth and Columbus, and in December the citizens of the two terminal points exchanged courtesies in a series of excursions and banquets. Later the line was extended to Ironton, the first train arriving at the Lawrence County city in February, 1881.

CHAPTER VI

GENERAL COUNTY MATTERS

ST. CLAIR CONSPIRES AGAINST STATEHOOD AND ROSS COUNTY— WORTHINGTON AND BALDWIN TO THE RESCUE-THE ROSS COUNTY OF 1798-PROPOSED COUNTIES TO BE CARVED THE FIRST COURTHOUSE THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETS-THE OLD COURTHOUSE AND STATEHOUSE “PRISON BOUNDS' IN CHILLICOTHE— THE PUBLIC SQUARE EARLY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURYTHE COURTHOUSE OF THE PRESENT-CREATION OF THE TOWNSHIPS PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY-THE LATEST STATISTICS-STUDY OF ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE-Gentlemen FARMERS FIRST AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY AND EARLY FAIRS THE SECOND SOCIETY-THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE PRESENT-ROSS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY-COUNTY'S POPULATION BY DECADES.

On the 20th of August, 1798, Governor St. Clair, of the Northwest Territory, proclaimed the bounds of Ross County to be as follows: "Beginning at the forty-second mile tree, on the line of the original grant of land by the United States to the Ohio company, which line was run by Israel Ludlow, and running from thence west, until it shall intersect a line to be drawn due north from the mouth of Elk river (commonly called Eagle Creek), and from the point of intersection running north to the southern boundary of the county of Wayne, and thence easterly with the said boundary of Wayne, until a north line to be drawn from the place of beginning shall intersect the same; and if it shall be found that a north line drawn from the place of beginning, will not intersect the said southern boundary of Wayne, then an east line is to be drawn from the eastern termination of the said boundary, until it shall intersect the aforesaid north line to be drawn from the point of beginning."

ST. CLAIR CONSPIRES AGAINST STATEHOOD AND ROSS COUNTY

Brief reference has been made to the effort of Governor St. Clair and others to divide what is now Ohio into eastern and middle states, with the Scioto as the chief natural boundary to the west, while

beyond the Middle State to the Mississippi and the Canadian boundary, the erection of a grand western state, of which he should be chief executive. An act making these divisions was passed by the Legislature and Council of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River on December 21, 1801, and approved by Governor St. Clair, but not ratified by the Congress of the United States.

That act is charged to have been a conspiracy or coalition entered into by members from the northwestern and northern, and a few from the southwestern part of the territory, against the middle counties, of which Ross was the most prominent, by reason of the able men who represented it. It is a fact well known that Arthur St. Clair, the governor, was bitterly opposed to the formation of Ohio, and that he did all in his power to obstruct and defeat the steps taken toward that end. In this effort he was supported by a number of men, among them, one from this county, Col. Elias Langham. As is known, Ross County was formed in 1798, from Adams County. In 1801 these two counties were deprived of a part of their representation in the lower house of the Territorial Assembly, and as a result, the above act was passed to lessen the power of the counties, which were striving for state government. One of the members of the Territorial Council (Major Vanderburgh), had withdrawn, leaving a vacancy. This vacancy was to be filled by appointment, and Ross and Adams put out Colonel Finley and Colonel Massie, in order that one of these men might receive the appointment, and so the state idea might have a supporter in the Council.

But the combination against the middle counties, in which Langham was an active mover, prevented the appointment of a man from Ross or Adams, and gained the appointment of Mr. Sibley, of Detroit, so that the middle counties had no representation in the Council. That body at the time, consisted of Robert Oliver, president, Messrs. Sibley, Burnett and Vance. When the act to divide the territory was brought up, it was opposed in the lower house, by the members from Ross and Adams, and in the Council, by Mr. Vance; but he could not hold out against the others. If he had been supported by either Finley or Massie, they would have had a majority on the floor of the Council, and the act would not have passed.

The act passed, however; and this led to the passing of a second act, inimical to the interests of the middle counties, in the removal of the seat of government from Chillicothe to Cincinnati, which was done January 1, 1802, the measure dividing the territory by the Scioto having been passed December 21, 1801. Elias Langham, at the instigation of St. Clair, introduced a resolution in the House to the effect that no more petitions for a state government would be