Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-06-28
WARREn. [. June "a ie00.

terest to a Western Reserve community 10
contemplate the many trials and hardshipE
and triumphs Of their ancestors have long
felt much interest in all that pertains to the
early settlement of the Western Reserve, and
have, hom time TO time, been gathering facts
and incidents appertaining to it and the har-
dy woOds-men who brayed the perils and
hardships Of the then almost inaccessible
Western forests. In all that goes to make up
a character Of true nobleness and greatness
such IS moral and physical courage, hardi-
hood, daring, powers Of endurance, trust
worthiness, insensibility to danger, and the
like-I can conceive of nothing in history
or story superior to the character Of the early
settlers of the Reserve. They were volun-
teers in the enterprise to rescue and reclaim
this Western wilderness from the dominion
Of the Savage and the wilder and more saw
age animals of the forest, without any of the
usual allurements which tempt large bodies OF
men to make settlements at unfavorable
points; and, besides, many of them had no
interest in the result save he hope of some
day making small home for themselves and
families; the great result of the labor was
to put money in the purse Of the Connecticut
Land Company. 1t was planting settlements
amidst dense forest, without any access
save the bride path of the wilderness, or the
tedious journey by canoe along the margin
Of the Lakes; while the means Of support
were scarce and difficult of transport and
the timber was so heavy that it required al
most the labor Of a generation to prepare a
farm for the hand of the Agriculturalist.
The men who figured in so grand and mag
nihcent an enteFprise-One which has pro-
duced such results to the State and society
that has, in the space of half century,
turned a bowling wilderness into splendid
cities, hourishing villages, well cultivated
farms, tasteful and pleasant residences-in-
habited by hardy, intelligent and enterpri-
sing people, where more than the average Of
refinement intelligence, high moral and in
tellectual culture abounds; with bands of
iron spanning and interlacing its length and
breadth, bearing upon their ribbed surface a
mighty traffic; with the electric wire speed
ing, as with lightning fash, messages of love,
friendship or business the men who initia-
ted such wonderful results should be remem-
bered, while the survivors-the very few of
the pioneers who remain-should be cherish
ed as the most precious jewels of the casket
Let the memory of the departed be kept
green, and the survivors hOnored with fetes
and triumphal marches, and always regarded
with the warmest friendship, the truest les-
pect and the subimest yeneration.
am extending these remarks much more
than ! intended, but the feeling inspired by
the theme has led me on this far, and has al
most caused me to lose sight Of the object
for which have taken my pen. Ny object
was to notice one or two points in the address
Of Gen. Bierce, and call his attention to what
seems to me to be two or three errors into
which he has fallen. He says that ono
Americans visited the Reserve until 1856"
Here are the two paragraphs which fol-
low:
" At that time the British had fort on the
west side Of the river, near its mouth, in what
is now the city of Cleveland. The Cuyaho-
GA fhen--nnlIE- -siz-tz- fslaz-
ted the American Eagle and the British Lion,
and all west of the river awaited the arbitra-
ment of the sword and tomahawk- The
British had not only fort in Cleveland, but
an army at Fort Miami, near the mouth of
the Maumee, determined to dispute the fur
ther progress of the Americans westward"
stAlthough the French had q trading post
on the Cuyahoga, in what is now Brooklyn,
as early as 1885, and the MOravians a mis-
sionary establishment in what is now hide
pendenee, as early as 1886, yetthe first house
erected on the Reserve, by Americans, was
"a Stow Castle, at Conneaut, July 9th, 1876; ;
the second was cabin at the foot OF Union
Lane, in Cleveland; the third was a cabin on
the site of the Commercial Bank, and the
fourth was erected by Lorenzo Garter, on the
hill, west side of Water street. and few rods
north of the corner of Water and Superior
streets. The first three were erected in the
summer Of 1886, by the first Exploring Ex-
petition, and in the one erected on the site
Of the Commercial Bank, Job P. Stiles and
wife, and Edward Paine spent the winter of
l796-97.n AZ.
There appears to be several errors in the
above paragraphs. Americans did visit the
Reserve "previous to 1885," the British did
not have a Fort at Cleveland in 1896; nor
was "Stow Castle the first house erected on
the Reserve; nor were the cabins named as
having been built at Cleveland in that year,
the first built in that city.
The late Col. James Hillman, Of Youngs-
town, had visited the Reserve and the mouth
of the Cuyahoga as early as lTs6. He first
visited the Reserve in the Spring of 1886, as
Superintendent of the caravan of Duncan &
Wilson, of Pittsburgh, who were trading with
the Indians and French on the Upper
Lakes. In the year 1856 he visited the
mouth Of the CuyahOga six times. On
their first trip they erected a house at the
mouth Of the Cuyahogs river, west side,
which was the first house erected in what is
now the City of Cleveland. At this time
there were three or four log cabins at the Salt
Springs in Weathersfeld, Trumbull county,
and at the mouth Of Tinker's Creek there
were a few vacant houses, which had been
occupied by the Moravian Missionaries and
had been built in April Of that year The
houses at the Salt Springs tract had been Oc-
cupied by persons who were manufacturing
salt but in the year 1855 they had been
driven out by the order of Gen. Harmer. 1t
is not known at how early q date the Salt
Springs were known and used but it was
previous to the year 1855; SO that Americans
had visited the Reserve 12 to IS years Previ-
Gus to the year 1896.
It appears, then, that houses had been
built on the Reserve at the Salt Springs as
early as I7s5, and probably before, and
the frst house built in Cleveland was in
1876. et
It is not correct that the British had fort
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga in 1886, and
besides it is not probable they ever had fort
there. Col. Hillman does not say anything
about any such fort in his narrative (Ohio Col
lections, P. 33s.) He speaks of and notices all
the marks of white men and civilization be-
tween the Ohio River and the mouth of the
Cuyahogs, mentioning the Moravian huts at
the mouth Of Tinker'5 Greek, and the Salt
Springs cabins, as the only houses between
the Ohio River and the Lake. he does not
speak Of the old 'sFrench House" in Brook
lyn, for the reason that that was too far south
r L.