Franklin county has had a remarkable increase in its population during the past quarter century, particularly in Columbus, the capital city, which is a most progressive and thoroughly cosmopolitan modern community. The following tables show the population of the county every decade from 1820 to 1870, as given by the United States census, and the population of the townships at three periods of their growth:

The following shows the population of the townships, at three periods of their growth:

The census of 1900 gives the population of Columbus as being 125,560, an increase of 42.44 per cent. over the population of 1890. These figures indicate that in the re-districting of the state for congressional districts Franklin county will have sufficient population to entitle it to a full district, thus eliminating Fairfield county, which is at present included in the Twelfth congressional district. The census returns for the entire county show a marked increase.

DANGERS OF EARLY SURVEYORS.

The original survey of the lands comprised in Franklin county was attended with great difficulty and danger. When the district was opened, in 1787, Messrs. Massie, Sullivant, McArthur and others began the adventurous undertaking of surveying. All the locations of land warrants, prior to 1790, were made by stealth. Every creek which was explored, every line which was run, were at the risk of life from savage Indians, whose courage and perseverance were only equaled by the perseverance of the Whites to push forward

their settlements.

Lucas Sullivant, one of the first settlers on the site of Columbus, who died August 8, 1823, surveyed most of the Virginia Military grant lying in the present limits of Franklin county. In some of his first attempts he was driven back by the Indians, but, finally, having formed a large party, about twenty men, surveyors, chain bearers, markers, scouts, hunters, and pack-horse men with pack horses, he made his way up the Scioto valley, through the untracked wilderness to the vicinity of what is now Columbus. The party experienced much suffering, sometimes having a short allowance of food, and because of the proximity of Indians, not daring to use their rifles to bring down game. Wolves were constant visitors to the encampment, and the panther was more than once found prowling around. Once when the Sullivant party were encamped near what the early settlers knew as the Salt-Lick, on the west side of the river, three miles below (now) Columbus, a panther was discovered crouching upon the horizontal limb of a tree, nearly overhanging the place where they were sitting around the brightly blazing fire. The tail of the panther was swaying to and fro, and he seemed about to spring upon them, when one of the hunters, seizing his rifle, aimed at the head, between the glaring eye-balls of the animal, and, with a steady hand, pulled the trigger. Simultaneous with the crack of the gun, the beast gave a spring, and falling in their midst, scattered the camp-fire in his death struggles. Later on two members of the party were killed by Indians, so it will be seen that the pioneer veritably took his life in his hands in the accomplishment of his duties.

CHAPTER III

THE OHIO CANAL

IT was in 1820 that public opinion first began to be stirred upon the necessity of a permanent water communication between the Ohio river and Lake Erie, and on the Fourth of July, 1825, ground was broken for the beginning of this great work by Governor Clinton of New York, the ceremony taking place at Licking Summit amid impressive ceremonies and great enthusiasm. This great undertaking was not completed until 1832, and cost over five million dollars. It has a minimum breadth of forty feet at water line and twentysix feet at the bottom, with a depth of four feet of water. The walls of the locks are of solid masonry, which, as well as the culverts, are of fine construction and great solidity. The length of the main line is three hundred and seven miles. It has a navigable feeder of fourteen miles to Zanesville, one of eleven miles to Columbus, one of nine miles to Lancaster, one of fifty miles to Athens, the Waldhonaig branch of twenty-three miles, besides other short branches. Although Governor Clinton's predictions as to the profitableness of the Ohio canal were not fulfilled, the improvement undoubtedly paid the people well for their investment. An effect worthy of mention in connection with this subject, and, indeed, directly connected with it, was the change wrought in the policy of the State by the creation of the public debt. This was caused and compelled by the construction of the canals, and a complete revision of the system of taxation in Ohio resulted.

On the 30th of April, 1827, occurred the event of greatest interest in the history of the canal to the people of Columbus and Franklin county. On that day work upon the branch, or feeder, from Lockbourne to Columbus, known as the "Columbus side-cut," was begun with marked ceremony. In the afternoon of that day the people of Columbus assembled at the state house. A procession was formed, consisting of several military companies and the State officers, and, marshalled by Colonels McDowell and McElvain, marched to the

The above named, who has for many years been a foremost member of the Franklin County Bar, was born on April 8, 1824, in Thirsk, Yorkshire county, England, --the son of Robert and Mary (Almgill) Harrison, the former a Methodist minister, and

also a trade craftsman ; but both have long been deceased. He came with his parents to Waynesville, Warren county, Ohio, in 1832, and a few years afterward they removed to Springfield, Ohio,---here he was educated in the common schools, and also in the High School of Springfield, noted for its efficient management, under the principalship of the Rev. Chandler Robbins.

When but twelve years old, Richard A. was compelled to seek work for his living, and secured employment in the office of the Springfield Republic, where he continued up to 1844. At the request of William A. Rodgers he entered the law office of that distinguished Springfield attorney, and among those who were fellow-students with him in the High School and in Judge Rodger's office was the late eminent Judge William White.

Mr. Harrison entered the Cincinnati Law School and graduated therefrom in 1846; on the eighth of April of that year, he was admitted by the Supreme Court a member of the Bar, soon after entering upon the practice of law at London, Madison county, where he quickly acquired an excellent business.

On December 25, 1847, Mr. Harrison was married to Miss Maria Louisa Warner, a daughter of Henry Warner, one of the pioneers of Madison county, and a few years later began to travel " the circuit" in Southern Ohio, securing a large practice. His legal abilities became more and more widely known and a foremost position was acknowledged him by his contemporaries.

Mr. Harrison was elected a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, from Madison county, in 1857, and, in 1859, was elected a member of the State Senate, from the district composed of Clark, Champaign, and Madison counties. Mr. Harrison was appointed a member of the Committee on Judiciary, and in this position an excellent opportunity was afforded him for the exercise of his legal talents, an opening he was not backward in taking advantage of. Many important bills that became enacted into laws were introduced by him, and among the more valuable of these were a bill to relieve the district courts, a bill concerning the relation of guardian and ward, and a bill providing for the semi-annual payment of taxes.

It was near the close of the second session that Mr. Harrison particularly distinguished himself by his highly eloquent discussion of the report of the commission appointed at the preceding session to investigate the State Treasury defalcation. By this report it was sought to implicate and besmirch the character of Salmon P. Chase, who was then Governor. In his special message, communicating the report to the House, the Governor called attention to its invidious criticisms. To rebuke him, it was moved to print the report without the message. On this motion Mr. Harrison obtained the floor, and by reason of his conclusive argument, the message went forth removed of its partisan significance. While delivering this speech Mr. Harrison was attacked with a severe hemorrhage of the lungs. He was advised not to persist in the continuance of his speech; but he could not be dissuaded, and after a brief rest he continued until he had concluded his argument.

Among other honors Mr. Harrison was elected President pro-tem. of the Senate, and was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. Associated with him in the Senate were James A. Garfield, afterward President of the United States; Governor J. D. Cox; Judge Thomas C. Jones; Judge Thomas A. Key; Prof. James A. Monroe, and many other brilliant men. The session of 1861 was one of the most eventful in the history of Ohio. During that session Mr. Harrison was the author of the joint resolution which pledged the resources of Ohio to aid in the maintenance of the authority of the United States.

Shortly after the Legislature adjourned Mr. Harrison was chosen to the seat in Congress made vacant by the resignation of ex-governor Corwin in 1861, and took his seat in the special session which opened July 4, 1864. In 1870, he ran as nominee for Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1875 he was appointed by Governor Hayes, and confirmed by the Senate, as a member of the Supreme Court Commission of Ohio, but he declined the position.

In 1875 Mr. Harrison, who is better known as Judge Harrison, removed to Columbus, where he has since resided. He is the senior member of the prominent law firm of Harrison, Olds, Henderson & Harrison, who have their office in the Pioneer Block.

river, where an address was delivered by Judge Joseph R. Swan. General McLene, then Secretary of State, and Nathaniel McLean, keeper of the penitentiary, removed the first shovelfuls of earth, and it was wheeled from the ground by R. Osborne, Auditor of State, and H. Brown, State Treasurer, while the people loudly applauded. A lunch was afterward served on the brow of the hill, a few yards north of the penitentiary square. The heaviest jobs were the dam across the Scioto and the Columbus locks, the four-mile locks and the locks at Lockbourne. The first mile from the river was excavated by penitentiary convicts under guard, many of whom received remitments of their sentences for their faithful labor. That portion of the canal passing through Franklin, Pickaway, Ross, Scioto and Pike counties, was of much more value to people along its line than some other sections of the Ohio canal. Its usefulness was not so soon superseded by the railroad, and the amount of traffic was well kept up until the building of the Scioto Valley railroad.

PHYSICAL AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF FRANKLIN

son.

COUNTY

Franklin county is bounded on the north by Delaware county, on the east by Licking and Fairfield, on the south by Pickaway, on the west by MadiUnion county touches it also at one corner, forming a small portion of the northern and western boundary. It occupies a position in the State which is almost central. The principal stream is the Scioto river, which divides the county into two nearly equal parts, flowing through it from north to south. From the north line of the county, almost to the city limits of Columbus, the river has worked out its way in heavy Devonian limestone, leaving vertical walls, which in some places are forty to fifty feet in height, while the real depth of the excavated valley is not less than one hundred and twenty-five feet. Here, and along some of the tributaries of the Scioto, is to be found the most picturesque and romantic scenery that the county affords. The bottom lands are very narrow and sometimes entirely wanting. Along the river south of Columbus, the banks and the valley are entirely different from those in the northern part of the county. The valley is broad but is indistinctly defined. Widely eroded regions, now filled with heavy and irregular drift, attest the former course of the river at points several miles removed from its present limits. Besides the Scioto river there are several other streams, viz.: Darby creek, which forms the western boundary of Brown and Prairie townships, also of the county, and flows southeasterly through Pleasant township into Pickaway county; the Olentangy, which flows from the north and empties into the Scioto at Columbus, and Gahanna river, which empties into the Scioto river near the southern county line, and which is formed in the northwestern part of Madison township by the union of the Black Lick, Big Walnut and Alum creeks, all three of which flow from the north in nearly parallel courses through the eastern half of the county.

The topography of the county is much more varied than that of any of the counties that lie along the same parallel to the west of it. The valleys of the Scioto, already spoken of, and its tributary streams, constitute the chief features. The several water sheds between the streams are about 925 feet above tide water, or 360 feet above Lake Erie. Columbus, the county seat, is centrally situated in the county in north latitude 39 degrees 57 minutes, west longitude 6 degrees from Washington. Franklin county has an extended geological scale. In this respect it is surpassed by but four counties in the State, and is equaled by a scarcely larger number. Highland, Adams and Pike counties, to the southward, have a somewhat wider range, the first two mentioned extending from the Lower Silurian to the Sub-carboniferous formation,