Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-03-30


olmsted ube J. S. olmsted Of this firm)
the price Of some articles as sold here at
that time, and l here note them:
Brown sheeting, Z yd. wide, soc per yd,
calico, so to 75c do; sstinett--now worth
37tc-at$2, so, do; coffee, 9scperlb.; tea,
from 81 to $3.50 do; tobacco, SOC do. :;
powder, 81 do; lead, 25c do; whiskey as
cents per gallon.
No sugars except refined loaf, were
brought The maple forest supplied the
demand for sugar and melasses. Large
quantities Of sugar were annually made and
brought in by the Indian women. 1t was
put up in boxes made of bark, holdingfrom
20 to so pounds; called in their language
'mocock." A 'mocock of sugar, / pre-
sumo, is a familiar sound to Judge Olmsted,
David Gallagher, or any person who did
business here as early as 1925. Foreign
brown sugar, or that made from the cane,
was never sold in our town till about the
year 1923. Soon after the firm of J. S. d
G. G. Olmsted opened business, they re-
ceived in trade and shipped in one season,
10000 muskrat worth 25 cents each, 5000
coon, worth so cents each, 1000 deer, say
so cents each, $50 otter, worth s. each, and
200 bear skins worth $5 each.
There was then only one specie paying
bank in the State; that was the Western
Reserve Bank, at Warren, on the Western
Reserve. U. S. Bank bills were sometimes
obtained to make remittances with.
The first wheat shipped East from Low
er Sandusky, was a lot of 600 bushels, sent
forward by j. S. Olmsted in the year 1880
1t cost forty cents per bushel here, and was
sold at Buffalo for sixty cents per bushel.-
Transportation was then so high that this
difference of twenty cents per bushel was
consumed in expenses; and the lotproduced
no profits worthy of attention.
The first pork sent from this place East
ward, was sent by j. S. d. G. G. Olmsted
about the year 1920, and was marketed al
Montreal; it consisted of $50 bbls. The
cost here was two thousand dollars for the
lot, and it was sold at considerable loss.
These memorandums will give some ide'
of mercantile business at an early day il
our town. No produce was exported, anC
it was after 1920 when anything raised by
farmers could be exchanged for dry goods
or groceries. The most usual way of OBJ
tanning goods was by bartering meat bread
and potatoes to the Indians for the good,
they obtained for peltry.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Inasmuch as this lecture is made for the
benefit of one of the branches of our Fire
Department, some memoranda respecting
its organization, though subsequent to thC
period to which l have limited my other
subjects, will not be inappropriate.
The first effort in this direction was an or
dinance passed by our town council May
II, 1S43, when h. P. Buckland was Mayor
and David E. Field, Recorder. 1t was en-.
titled ''An ordinance relating to Fire Buck
cts" Bv this ordinance owners and occu
pants were required to procure for eacf
house a leather bucket holding not les:
than two and half gallons; and to keep i
at or near the front door of the house, fo
the use of the inhabitants in case of fire
and to be used for no other purpose. The
initials of the owners name were required
to be painted on the outside of the bucket
in plain letters This ordinance was prompt
lv obeyed, and for a while these black leath
er buckets formed a conspicuous appendag
to every house. March 18th, 1914, durin,
the administration of the same Mayor an
Recorder, an ordinance was passed entitle
"An ordinance organizing fire depart
ment, and which provided for the organize
ton of Hook and Ladder Company. o.
the 26th of the Same month, the sam
council met and appointed the followin
officers for the Company:
Chief Engineer-Stephen G. Smith.
First Assistant-Robert II. Caldwell.
Second Michael Huffman.
At the same meeting it was "ordere
that the Chief Engineer send to Detroi
for ladders" This Company was the onl
organization for period of about ten years
On the Sd of March, 1853, upon petition
of large number of citizens, an ordinanc
was passed organizing an Engine Compa
ny, and also organizing Hook and Ladde
Company, to which the old one gave place
Our first fire engine was purchased by the
town council in January, 1853, includin:
hose and cart at cost Of 800. At thi
time Brice ]. Bartlett was Mayor, and T. 2
Finefrock, Recorder. The zeal and effort
of Mayor Bartlett in purchasing the engine
and promoting the organization of Fremor
Engine Co. N. l, and Rescue Hook an
Ladder Co. No. l, are gratefully remen
bered by many here.
PRINTING PRESSES.
The first printing press in our town ws
brought by David Smith, and put in operi
ton in July, 1929. Smith edited an
printed it. 1t was a weekly, 81 by
inches, when entirely spread out this ws
the exact measurement of the printed ma
ter. 1t was called the Lower Sandusk
Gazette. This editor and publisher was
gluttinous, pale, thin, lazy, slip-shod spec
men of humanity. He always wore h
shoes down at the heel and with ragge
socks. His wood-pile was out doors and
was chopped up By himself and bis fire rt
plenished whenever the Office temperatur
H. f.oo.,,.. ,,o,nt a. go -.