Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-10-13
pioneer ,reeting--cuyahosa County.

The meeting of surviving pioneer settlers and
for the public, to be held at Newburgh, Wednes-
dav. Goth inst, as called by the CuyahOga
County Historical Society, will be largely at
tended; the first of the kind and unique, it can
hardly fail to be otherwise.
The antecedents-the County connections
which the territory comprising the present
County of Cuyahoga have had, have been many
varied and changing. The County of Cuya-
hoga" was at the outset of pretty fair dimen-
sions. but she has been sheared and clipped
down to about the legal size.
The South line of the County East of the
River stands as at the first The North or Lake
side could not be well paired of. The East
side has been shorn tier of towns from what
it originally had; while it then included all that
part of the Reserve West of the Cuyahoga and
" Portage Path" In the distribution of this
territory west of the river between the younger
sisters of Huron, Medina, and Lorain, and the
older sister of Geauga, there have been alter
nate subtractions and additions, but the subtrac-
tiOns have largely prevailed.
Without going further back as to jurisdiction
it may be stated that the territory of the county
lying east of the Cuyahoga was in the North
west corner of Washington, the first county
erected in the Northwest Territory, the county
seat at Marietta-the west line whereof was the
Cuyahoga river, Portage Path, the Tuscarawas
as far as Bolivar, thence sOuthwesterly on the
line of the treaty of Greenville to the SciOtO
river-thence down the Scioto to the Ohio river
All the territory between this westerly bounla-
ry, the State of Pennsylvania and the Ohio
river, constituted Washington COunty-one-
third of the present State of Ohio.
County business, if any from this region east
of the Cuyahoga, was transacted at Marietta.
This same tract Of country is now subdivided
into 40 counties
Our next off was the new county of JEFF
ferson-county seat SteubenviIle-lhe next
Trumbull, Warren the county seattle next
Geauga, and finally Cuyahoga. So much for
our territory east of the Cuyahoga.
The river has been boundary line of much
prominence in earlier days, as well as at a later
period when " the war of the bridges " ragged
furiously, and many shots told with effect among
the COngreGdLcQ GTOWQss Inc COUNTY Ol W NuG.
county seat Detroit, was the next county erected
from the Northwest Territory. Its interior
boundary was from the mouth of the Cuyahoga
ascending its course to Portage Path, and down
the Tuscarawas to Bolivar-thence southwest
erly on the Greenville Treaty ine to the Big
Miami river-thenee northwestery to Fort
Wayne and TO the head of Lake Michigan, and
thence by the divide of the waters falling into
the Gulf of St. Lawrence from those falling
into the Gulf of Mexico not very precisely To-
Gated, but evidently intended to continue on the
divide till the territorial boundary line was
reached on the grand plateau separating the wa
tiers which flow into Hudsons Bay and the Arc
tic 0cean-the Gulf of st. Lawrence and the
Gulf of Mexico-thence by the National boun-
dary line to the mouth of the CuyahOga. This
outline boundary of the county of Wayne, abut-
ting on the CuyahOga, embraced large third
of the now State of Ohio, portion of Indiana
ard Illinois, a large part of Wisconsin, por-
ton of Minnesota and all Michigan an area of
lI5,0O0 square miles, about three times the
present State of Ohio The territory in the
State Of Ohio which was included in Wayne
county has since been erected into upwards of
80 counties-in the State of Michigan into 20
counties-many in the other States swelling the
whole number of counties to $50. Wayne coun-
ty was probably the largest county ever erected
in the United States
Tue Cuyahoga river was of some note in
navigation in carly times. Washington wished
to connect his interior line of canals ard slack
water navigation to draw the fur trade from De-
troit to the Chesapeake. 1t was used to boat
up provisions that had come from Buffalo for
the Surveyors OF the Connecticut Land Compa-
ny at " the Upper Castle as It was termed, at
the junction of the Little Cuyahoga.