The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-02-06
.,siq HISTORY Y
OF THE asa ..s,is-7
EARLY DAIRFING, BUSINESS
s8f IN OHIO. as isi ii

at the late session of fTthe Northern
Ohio Dairymens' Association, held in
Cleveland, Col. s.. ID. Herris read the
following paper. which cannot fail to
be interesting to our readers:
Fifty years ago that part of Ohio
which has since beenbdeveloped into
one of the most prolific and profitable
dairy regions in the world, was COW
cred with dense forest of heavy
timber, the clearing up OF which was
8 severe tax upon the -labors ofsthe
pioneer farmer. Itlwas very early
discovered that the most natural pro-
duct OF these lands was grass aof a
very nutritious quality, and growing
in great abundance and the adoption
of this grass for the production of
milk for dairy purposes was also
clearly demonstrated, SO that the
cleared lands fell as naturally into.
dairy uses as duck takes to- the
water sfni3 a5I8s I8 s9lisi aiig s.
Very little money was in circula-
ton among the farmers in those early
times, andsfew were the products of
the soil which could command money
at any price, Black salts and potash
were made in abundance from the
ashes of burnt timber in clearing the
land, and maple sugarfrom the stand
ing trees, and; these products all the
country merchants were obliged to
take of their farmer customers, so
that they were about as near a legal
tender for goods as bank notes are at
this time. Besides this, hickory nuts,
ginseng root and coon skins were
n, fhn 90 orlxy o,.fi inln nf do Il
allcountry merchants were obliged to
keep spacious back room for the
storage of maple sugar, salts and.
potash, and, ample upper floors for
spreading out hickory nuts; while
coon skins and other peltry garnished
such spare places as were available
for their storage. L saw very much
OF, this sort of merchandising, in my
early intercourse among the farmers
and country store keepers of North
eastern Ohio. a13 so
| I In this state of affairs. 1t was very.
natural that the enterprising pioneer
farmer should desire to advance from
this primitive style of forestry into a
more civilized sort of production, and
the great ambition of those people
was to get few acres under cultiva-
tion for the production of grass. that
they might stock them with cows and
get q start in, the dairy business,
which seemed to them more honora-
bley as it was also more profitable than
the production of potash, maple sugar,
or of coon hunting. nto IsgaH
But it did not take a long time to
satisfy the home market with as much
of butter aud cheese as could be used
and paid for, so it became necessary
to take these products to some distant
markets, where money, could be real
Ized from their sales. The lake to WINS
were already accessible TO the produc-
ton. of the older dairy regions of the
State of New York, and as the down
river country was our prospective
market, towards that our dairymen
turned their eyes as most likely to re-
alize their wishes. 1873 9Foo6
1t was in the year 1918, 9ffty-four
years ago last fall, that the first ven-
ture was made in opening trade in
Western Reserve cheese with the
towns on the Ohio River and the wa
ters below That was a good while
before the Cleveland and Pittsburgh
railroad was in operation. DIR. Thomp-
son, of Hudson, then in the old county
VI OItdSC, maui up ouIdiI lOl or
cheese from that vicinity. which he
shipped upon the .Cuyahoga River,
and thence worked across the old
| Portage into the Tuscarawas, and
down that into the Muskingum, from
the Muskingum into the Ohio, down
| the Ohio to the mouth of the Cumber-
land and up the Cumberland 10 The
| young city of Nashville, in the State
OF T-nnessee. DIR. Thompson bought
his cheese for about &c a pound, and
sold it out at Is and o20cbi This looks
like pretty serious journey, and the
sale shows very fair margin. But it
did not cost people much to travel III
those days, except time and hard work
and these were not cash uarticles, Sc
we may presume that DIR. Thompson
made fair thing out of his first ven.
] tnre with cheese down the river ianil
A little before the time that Dl;
Thompson made his voyage a tough
young adventurer of the township oil
Aurora, in the county of Portage
| shipped as hand on a large fiatboat,
to go down the river TO New Orleans
4 The voyage completed, he was looking
about the city, and seeing a cut cheese
ia q provision store asked the price al
which they were selling it, and was
told the price was dollar q pound.A
The name of this young man was
Harvev Baldwin, who is still a hale
old farmer in the township of Streets