Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-07-07
Morgan County Democrat McConnsv Thursday

warm sun-shiny day. When he wa
! hunting for pieces of cedar b
came to the edge of the hill wher
there was steep bank, where,
rock jutting out, made a sort o
cave the boys would get in. He sai'
he was just starting to Jump dow
when he looked closer and saw
large bunch of snakes all woun,
together, summing themselves on tn
rock. He did not jump. He decid
ed he did not need any "whittlin
wood that day, nor did any of tn
| boys who were there for the sam
| purpose.
When the canal was built to al
| low the boats to be locked arount
the dam and through the locks, i
from the bank across the canal tt
the "island," to allow the farmers
to drive across to the mill.
Just how to make this bridge sc
it would answer the purpose fol
which it was intended was a ques
ton. But it was finally solved by
Lemuel Fouts, by building what We
know today as table-draw bridge
This was the first such bridge ever
erected and was the invention oi
Mr.. Fouts, though he never secured
any benefit from this invention.
The first steamboat ever on the
Muskingum was the "Rufus Put
nam" and have very full account
of her first trip to GAINESVILLE and
return to Marietta, which 1 gave
you some weeks past.
Captain Travis compiled a list OF
all the boats that had ever run on
the river and this list was publish
ed in the local papers in connection
with some of the very remarkable
articles, he prepared for the old
Scientific Society.
Captain I. N. Hook, during the
latter part of his life, lived at
Stockport for time, and it was my
very good luck to secure number
of interviews with him, in which he
related much he recalled of our
early history, not alone connected
with the river; but covering many
items of interest. l would meet
him near the upper part of Stock
port and we would sit there and he
would spin his stories, that were,
to me, more interesting than any
fiction. / shall incorporate some of
these in a later article
One of the early newspapers pub
lished at McConnelsville was the
Valley Democrat. 1t was edited by
Chas. H. Bean. The earliest copy l
have is volume one, No. 28, dated
October IA, 1864. Like all the 9TH
ers there is but very little local
news The war news took up about
little better than half. 1t was a six
column paper Ia inches wide and 20
inches long. Robertson says that it
was published only from April to
of 1864. In his history
of Morgan county, pages 235 to 251,
gives very good account
of the early publications.
Several, like the Valley Democrat,
issued but a few numbers, and were
then either consolidated with an
other paper or closed up shop.
Many were started as political jour-
nails and after they served their
purpose were discontinued
| have been able to find but very
few issues of this paper. Likely it
had a limited circulation and no one
cared to save the papers as they
were issued.
In all these old papers we find
some items of interest, though their
greater value is checking on data
already accumulated for the articles
| have been writing. In these pa
pers we find names and dates that
otherwise would be hard to locate
For some reason the entire Sec
ond column of page one was left