The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1860-11-07
A Picture of OHIO im 1898.


Orleans Picayuae an account OF an expert.
ence in Ohio, as follows: 4.:H... a.
"The month of October. 1925 found m
at Sandusky City, Ohio, Stills a boy, but al.
most man grown, with less than five dol.
lars in my pocket, and with no friend save
good consti,ution-and a good constitution,
let me here say, is one Of the best friends
young man ever possessed. Daring the
summer, had travelled the whole length OF
the Erie Canal, and had run the gauntlet OF
chiIls, fevers, and i'll the ills with which
Western New York was then dffl cted. |
was now on my way to Cincinnati, short OF
money, but tull Of hope. But how 10 get to
Cincinnati do not recolect that there
was at that time any regular conveyance in
the shape OF stage coach, and even had
there been, my pockets were not suffi icienty
piethoric to permit me to Indulge in any
.saehSexttasagaaee. Thussiiuated, itesprfs
Cd 70 the first and most primitive. ,Gnads-ol
| Flocomution mentioned in ancient ,histdry-=f
"iooted it"-tramped every step Of the way
to Cincinnati.
We passed on through the little
town OF Bucyrus, Tiffin, and others, then just
springing into existence, and everywhere it
was sickness, wretchedness and want. In
| some families, half were down with bilious
attacks or chlls and fevers in others, ev.
cry soul wss unable 10 rise. Third rate
saddle bsg doctors, with fourth rate med.
cines, were riding about from place to place
young men learning their trude-kilIing
more than they cured. Corn meal, cracked
in rude iron mills attached to trees, tfforded
all the breads,uff; rancid pork, and many
did not even have that, wos all the meat !;
coffee end sugar were lexuries rarely seen |:
the milk, from the few poor cows we sa ~
looked Us though it had been skinned both
at the top and the bottom. Much of the
time while we were on the journey, we en-.
countered cold, raw rains, and roads knee
deep in mud on clear days the sun would
come out at MONDAY, dry and scorching hot
while ths nights would be damp and cheer.
less, end the mornings foggy-a dense mi
asma, into which you could drive peg,
seemed to brood over the land. You could
see chills and fever everywhere. Dsspair
sat upon every countenance, and | saw but
few people on the route who would not have
left the country at once, had they possessed
those important sentials-strength and the
means. Corn they could raise, res; but
every acre of lend, ecaimed from the dense
forest, cost world of labor, OF suffering, OF
sickness, aud OF death.
Such is a hastily drawn picture of whit
saw 10 Ohio during the fall of 1928!
have not half told the story, for have mol
time ond space.
In the year 1929 was in portions Of In.
disna-|en. up the Wabash as far as Terre
Haute, and saw not little of the country
J in many parts it was even worse than in
Ohio, for there the dreaded milk sickness
obtained to such an extent that one was JUS
L
IS much afraid OF bowl of milk as bite O
= rattlesnpke-- either would kill in twenty
| our hours. And besides, the chils and ie
vers and bilious diseases seemed to be thu
rule, while thoroughly sound and healthy
person was an exception. And discourage
ment, too, wns plainly marked on balf tht
faces saw, and thousands would have gont
back to their homes in the older States, hat
they possessed the means. Again, few
years after, 1 travelled pretty much all ove
Il Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Missouri
and Iowa, and almost everywhere Esaw sui
fering, sickness and discomfort. Good crop:
were made-there is no denying it but af
ter they were made they were valueless---i
cost more to get themto market than theJ
were worth. In the fall and winter, raw
piercing rains, cold and cutting winds, AM
deep. sticky mud we're every where, while Il
the summer the sun beat dowa cpon the un
protected prairies with blistering force. 'ss
-
i ora Yankee tAveler,ss describingJ
! 5ouohnut of unusuallv larUat nronnrtinn