Geography of Ohio 127 



of first settlements in some parts of the state, we find that this 

 rule does not always hold. Some settlers chose the hilly regions 

 even when the level lowlands might have been had. Whenever 

 such a choice is made, it usually reflects a previous topographic 

 environment of the settlers. Men reared among hills, when com- 

 ing int'O new areas, select similar topography. From the Ohio 

 river, extending far north through the state, are several impor- 

 tant river valleys; the earliest towns were founded along these 

 rivers. 



Early prosperity. Commonwealths have to learn how to accu- 

 mulate wealth. A state may have an ample rural population, 

 and yet have no particular rank among commonwealths. Its 

 property may be owned by individuals and be unencumbered. 

 Indebtedness may be generally abhorred by its citizens, and yet 

 among states it may be counted very backward. For a state to 

 be effectively prosperous, its citizens must accumulate more 

 than their homes and farms. It is the excess wealth that counts. 

 Ohio has always been an agricultural state. In its early history, 

 farmers had to be contented with growing enough to support 

 their families and slowly accumulating money to pay for their 

 homes. There was only one way in this early period for them to 

 acquire much more than this. It was quite impossible to reach 

 larger markets, because there were no facilities of transportation. 

 Hence there was little to be sold for cash. The simple needs 

 were usually met by barter. This condition did not apply so 

 stringently in the parts immediately adjacent to the Ohio and its 

 larger tributaries, but this was onh^ a small portion of the state. 



Farmers learned early that the easiest way to secure cash 

 was to raise cattle which could be herded and driven to larger 

 markets. In consequence, the first important position attained 

 by any center of population in this state came through slaughter- 

 ing and meat-packing. Cincinnati, for many decades the metrop- 

 olis of Ohio, was also for many decades the center of the slaugh- 

 tering industry in this country. Eventually the central and south- 

 western part of the state began to accumulate capital through 

 the pasturing of cattle and feeding of hogs; while a wealthy 

 aristocracy of middle men was developed in Cincinnati. A Euro- 

 pean traveler,! who visited Cincinnati in the early forties, alludes 



1 Sir Charles Lyell, Travels in North America, New York, 184.5. 



