St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1866-08-30
sKETcIz OF MARIETTA, OHIO.

SKETCH OF MARIETTA, OHIO.
.a MAxrerrA, ONO, Aug. 18th, 1866. .
4 EDITOR DEsocRAr.-M Marietta, quaint,
little, old city Of some six thousand :inhabi-
tants is situated at the junction of the
Mnskingum river with the Ohio. The place
Is built on broad strip Of bottom land
which extends back for half : mile and
then rises gradually into .. succession Of
broken unaulating hills which form a cir,ling
terrace overlooking the lower and business
portion Of the town, sffording fine building
sites, O. beautiful view Of the two rivers
and the varied, scenery Of large extent Of
country. Although having IN old, settled,
comfortable appearance the city is neat,
pleasant and tasty. The streets are wide,
and its buildings, both public and private,
compare favorably with any place Of its
size in the West. It is accessible BY rail
from tGincinnati and Baltimore, and the
steamers plying on the two rivers afford
easy access nearly the entire year to i'm
portant points on the upper Ohio and
GAINESVILLE on the Muskingum. The latter
river runs north into the State and is rem
dered nnvigable some eighty miles, to Zanes-
vile by dau,s with locks placed st intervals
the hole distance 1:}58,2z.S7.. @''s. '-s'as!'l
.rieally and otherwise, centering about
Marietta. Historically it may be consid-
cred the threshold Of the west for here it
was, in the year 1888, the first settlement
was made in what was then known as the
.'".Northwest territory" out, Of which the
Western States have been successfully
taken. The FIRST settlers were from New
England, Revolutionary soldiers aud their
families Some Of the descendants of Gen.
Iseral Putnam and many other revolution
ary officers and soldiers. still reside in the
place. Being Of the Puritan stripe, they
brought with them all the marked char
acteristics of that heartily abused race of
Yankees, which were exemplified in their
inherent love Of order, steady habits and
justice in the administering of laws gfea-
lures which now strongly mark their do
.scendants and are plainly visible in their
social relations, their love for. intellectual
cultivation and the progress they have
made in giving to this place character for
mental Improvement such as few pisces in
the West enjoy. The settlers erected a
temporary government, passed Laws and
published them by mailing them to > tree
in the, village, appointing one Of their mum.
Der to administer them. They also named
the place Marietta in honor Of Maria An
toniette, whs presented . bell to the set
Element, which now hangs in the steeple OF
the Court House, experienced the usua
horrors of pioneer life,, fought Indians ant
went through the successive stages Of suft
erings, trials and tribulations. About th'
year 1907, ship building was extensively
carried on here and the first ship that evel
found its way to the ocean from the wes'
was built here and made trip across th'
Atlantic, going as far as Petersburg il
Russia. At this time Marietta was made .
sport Of clearance from which vessel'
could receive regular papers for > foreigl
country This circumstance gave rise to I
curious incident, which took place abou
| the year 1917. A ship built here cleared
Orleans. Thence took load Of cotton t
England md being chartered to 60 to St
Petersburg reached that port in safety
Her papers being examined by nava
officer, and dating from the port Of Mari
eta, she was seized upon the plea Of thel1
being a forgery, as no such port was knowl
in the civilized world. With considerable
difficulty the captain procured . map o
the United States and pointing with hi!
fuger to the mouth of the Mississippi
traced the course. Of that stream to th'
Ohio thence led the astonished and admir-
ing naval officer along the latter river t
the port of Marietta from whence he hat
taken his departure. The explanation wa
! satisfactory and the Yankee was dismissed
with every token of regard and respect. Z.
Herman BlAnnerhAsset, an Irish gentle
mau Of wealth. whose connection with th'
iii. fated project of Aaron Burr has giver
his name wide spread notoriety, was q
one time resident here. He afterwart
removed to the beautiful island since known
BY his name, embosomed in the Ohio a few
miles below here and resided there unit
Burr ruined him by persuading him to EN-
bark in the secession scheme which resulted
30 disastrously. Blannerhasset after year,
Of wandering died on the island Of Guer
ensy. His wife subsequently, endeavored Il
get remunerated for the destruction Of theil
beautiful mansion and grounds on tn,
island but failed, She died shortly aftel
in New York. The island will ever be aI
object Of interest to travellers and remain q
memento of the fate of this unfortunate
family around whose melancholy fortune.
the ,genius Of Writ has weaved . tribute o.
eloquence alike imperishable. Among
the objects of local interest 1t this place
are come ancient works, the remains Of q
race of "NIound Builders who undoubtedly
reared these works s"d past away long
before the discovery Of the New World BY
Columbus. The motive in building these
works, and the history Of the builders
themselves is shrouded In impenetrable
mystery and is "a hard nut for the an.
tiquarians to crack AZ the Egyptian Pyra-
mids. The suppositiou is that they were
dedicated to the dead, rs from those which
have been opened have been taken ancient
Indian weapons and skulls. These remains
consist Of IN elevated square, psrallelo-
gram and small mound, enclosed BY wall
Of earth embracing about forty acres, the
whole connected With the Muskiagum
river by two high walls Of earth twenty
one feet high. The 'se!evated square" has
been converted into neat park by the city
and presents . very attractive appearance.
There is also . large, beautiful mound,
thirty feet high, in the form Of square
lo.F fo,. .nnno\ anv>raI 18th ~pn~th ~ @Enn