The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1954-08-05

/ nome each evening and gathering TO
play games such as "Pig in the
Parlor," and other folk games. Other
entertainment was found, however.
There were pool halls and two
saloons. One of these saloons was
three stories high, and was called
"The Big House. 1t was here that
a group from Orange Township came
almost every Saturday night, and
there was sure to be fist fight to
entertain veryone-especially the
sheriff, who stood by and enjoyed
himselfl There was little law and
order then. Finally some of the
townfolk banded together and blew
up The Big House one night, and
that put an end to the rowdyness.
(No one was in the place when it was
blown upD.
During the day, the ladies in their
hoop skirts and bustles, wide brimmed
hats and laced or buttoned shoes,
used to walk to and fro on the board
sidewalks about their business. The
men wore long tailed coats, scarf
about their necks, and stovepipe hats,
as they escorted their ladies. Often
as they walked side by side, the
gentleman or lady would step on one
of the boards certain way, causing
the other party to fly up into the air
with the flying board! Many times
a lady would land on her hustle,
while her embarrassed escort would
stand by to pick her up and apologize.
If we.were to go shopping then, we
would find a price list at the grocery
store something like this: coffee $.25
h.; / qt. milk sos; butter $.12 a b.;
eggs sos a doz. The Rawson Herald
of the 1905 cost about dollar a
year and it was published once a.
week.
When the church bell tolled, that
was sign that someone had died.
The sexton always tolled the bell also
as the funeral procession arrived and
again as they left for the cemetery,
until they were out of sight. The
procession was led by the hearse
drawn by two black horses.
Rawson did not grow so much
when the oil boom came (1900-1910),
but the town made money from the
oilmen. The Rawson Hotel, and the
Livery Stable, serving as taxi to
take the oilmen to work made quite
a bit of money as we'll as the oil well
supply stores. The boom began when
Findlay first found the oil by drilling
for gas. At the time, gas was more
important than oil. Everyone thought
that gas was here to stay forever
| and as a result, much of it was vast
ed. Free gas was given to industries
that came to Findlay, which promot-
ed the growth of Findlay. However,
oil lasted longer than the gas boom.
Soon one could see the light of the
oil wells from miles away. Because
Rawson now had the oil industry and
the railroad, the people of the near
by village of Canonsburg, which had
neither of these but which was once
great trading center, moved to
Rawson, leaving Canonsburg a ghost
town. The Gilman usually made
about $3.50 a day drilling, while
other men made about $LO0 a day.
Oilmen worked for the Ohio Oil Co.
in Findlay.
The interurban played big part
in the history of the village. The
interurban running through the vii
lage was one of the pioneer inter-
urban roads in Northwestern Ohio.
The 26-mile line was watched very
carefully throughout the state for
experimental purposes. The exten-
sions came soon. This line running
from Lima to Findlay handled Wells
Fargo express and mail shipments.
The regular rate was $.02 a mile but
excursions with special rates were
frequent. Pearl Burket, now our
postmaster, took tickets at the inter-
urban station which was built in
1905. The first car ran on Jan. 6,
1906, and every hour one ran each
way. Pearl remembers selling $50
round trip tickets from Rawson to
Findlay on circus day at Findlay.
The parents drove their horses and
buggies into Rawson and left them
at the livery stable while they took
the interurban, because it would take
about all day to get to Findlay by
horse and buggy, while it would take
about an hour or less with the inter-
urban. The interurban was more
convenient then, and still would be,
for those who don't have a car and
have to wait for the right bus today.
Once preachers son from Findlay
and his girl came to Rawson to visit
and missed the last interurban back.
He had to be at work the next morn
ing, SO he and his girl rode a freight
train back to Findlay! The fact
that they 1.-THE interurban) didn't run
at night was disadvantage. When
private autos began to make their
appearance, empty streetcars became
more frequent, and on Jan. 16, 1892,
The Western Ohio gave up and fold
ed up quietly. Hardly anyone noticed
that the last run was the end of an