Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-03-21
NOTES FROM THE WEST.

the title are ignorant of its Specification and
history.
1t appears that the necessary ignorance of
the geography of the country caused the vari-
GUS charters of territory from the European
sovereigns to the colonies to conflict oft times
one with another. The Connecticut charter
from Charles H., King of England, in 1862,
gave to the colony of Connecticut all lands be-
tween the forty first and forty second parallels
of North latitude, Westward to the Pacific
Ocean, with the exception of the lands of New
York and Pennsylvania. After the Revolu-
tionary war and the final organization of the
United States government, it was somewhat
difficult to adjust all the conflicting claims of
the colonial charters to Western lands But
they were all at last settled, and the State of
Connecticut received in consideration of her
claim, the right of title to this tract in the
Northwestern part of the State yielding up to
the general government all the rest of her
claims, and also the right of jurisdiction over
this Connecticut reservation"
This Reserve extends from the forty
parallel of North latitude on the South to Lake
Erie on the North, and from the Western
boundary of Pennsylvania on the East, to
line parallel herewith, one hundred and twenty
miles West therefrom, and it averages about
fifty miles wide, the Eastern line being sixty
eight miles long and the Western line thirty
one miles, making territory of three million
|
was laid out in two hundred and forty towns of
five miles square, giving map thereof
| very unique appearance much resembling
| chequer- board, and very unlike the maps of
our own State or county, where an exactly
| square town is not to be found at all-Barre in
the county of Worcester, coming as near as
any, and yet none of its lines are North, and
South, and East, and West lines, as are all the
lines of these Western Reserve towns.
| trnp Df boc +ba ,orf
very level flat surface that utterly surprises
New Engander, accustomed to the hills and
mountains of his own section, and never hav-
ing penetrated to the great prairies of the
West And this fatness is peculiarly marked,
commencing almost Immediately upon leaving
the rough surface and mountainous hills of
pennsylvania, and seeming to have been d-
vided by the precise dividing line of these
| States, and so, as you approach the South line
OF the Reserve, you meet at once the rolling
land and precipitous hills of Central and South
ern Ohio.
Summit County, which lies near the central
part of the Reserve, and through which the
| Cuyahoga River runs, is more uneven and
billy than any other section of the Reserve
and is the highest land between the Ohio Riv-
er and Lake Erie, on the line of the Ohio Can
al, that connects the Lake at Cleveland with
the River. In Akron, the shire town of this
near together from the clouds, run the one
through the Cuyahoga River to the Lake, to
be discharged through the Gulf of St. Law
renee in the far North to the Atlantic Ocean
while Others, taking the Tuscarawas River,
run through the Ohio and Mississippi, to the
Gulf of Mexico in the far South.
AT Ravenna, in Portage County, the court
house roof thus divides the falling drops, send
ing one drop to the far South, and the other
companion drop to the far North, sundered
now by thousands of miles. Thus, also, do
sma incidents in life change the whole cur
rent and direction Of mems affairs and rea-
tons.
The roads on the Reserve are nearly all
East and West, and North and South, going
through the centre of each town in straight
lines, and intersecting each other at right an
giles, with parallel roads at the distance of half
a mile or a mile from the other as the case
may demand, with only occasionally diagonal
road, leading from one large business centre
| to the other. The villages are, almost univer-
sally in the precise centre of the town, where
the centre roads" cross, "Timothy Titcomb"
to the contrary, notwithstanding although
occasionally an enterprising business man or
manufacturer may gather about him village
at some other "cross roads, yet the post office
meeting house, and store, are generally at the
centre. These straight lines and right angles
making the finding of the way quite easy for
a stranger, in travelling, for the directions are,
so many miles North, and thence so many
East, or South, or West, as the case may be,
and the parallel roads that cross can be count
ed off itno the necessary miles, so that no one
can miss the way, and following the centre
road straight in either direction, five miles,
brings you to the next town in that direction,
| without mistake.
This section being settled for the most part
| by emigration from Connecticut and other
parts of New England, the population and in
situations are very yankee like in their charac-
ter batting somewhat the finish and perfection,
that settlement Of half century cannot ac-
| quire, to so high degree as those of four or
| five times that age have done But, neverthe-
less, this accounts for the higher tone of anti
slavery and reformatory sentiment that the
reserve maintains against most other sections
| of the State.
This city is called the Forest City," but
there are no forests to be seen here, those den
liens of the original Wilderness have steadily
melted before the approach Of rapid settlement
| and civilization. But the city has literally
| grown out of the forest. In 1898 there were
but l6 persons there in 1880 but 1000 in 1910
| 5000, in 1850 1900 and in 1858 25000 Thus
| rapidly do these Western cities sprout and
| grow out of the primeval wilderness.
Cleveland has one of the best harbors in the
lake, at the mouth Of the Cuyahoga river, and
terminus of the Ohio canal, and being also a
central point that receives the terminus of
number Of important railroad lines. She is
| destined to retain her position as great COM
| merclal and business center and become a
| great city.
Much interest is attracted towards the COB
erlin rescue case" which comes before the
United States Circuit Court in this city during
this MONTH 1t will be recollected that thirty
| eight men are under arrest charged with vio-
lating the fugitive slave law of 1850 by res
| cuing an alleged fugitive slave from the hands
of the United States Marshall, at Wellington,
Lorain county, last Fall. These men are
among the most respectable citizens of We'll
lingt on and Oberlin, some of them cergymen
and professors of the Oberlin College, and
| others are students in the theological and
other departments of the same institution,
Eminent counsel have volunteered their SER
vices for the defence. And the whole senti-
ment of the community seems to be on their
side, and against the execution of that bill of
| inhumanity and denominations, the Fugitive
| Slave bill The "Rescuers" gave a festival
few weeks ago, which was largely attended by
eminent and respectable men, and they had
| right good time for men under indictment of
| crime ~ Speeches were made and toasts Civ
en-, all in defiance of the law under which they
| were indicted, and in commentator of its null
hhcatlon by these men. But, how is this =? Is
not this law abiding community Do not
these men all voluntarily join and uphold a
government whose legitimate acts they are
now multiplying Do they not all throw up
their caps in honor of the glorious Union with
Shareholders which gives them the blessed
privilege of being slave catcher, or Furnishes