RODMAN, THOMAS J. 



C85 



or a total valuation of $296,800 ; wheat, 39 

 acres, 700 bushels, 17.6 bushels per acre, $1.75 

 per bushel, $1,225 ; rye, 1,144 acres, 20,600 

 bushels, 18 bushels per acre, $1.27 per bushel, 

 $26,162; oats, 4,648 acres, 152,000 bushels, 

 32.7 bushels per acre, $0.61 per bushel, $92,- 

 720; barley, 1,250 acres, 30,000 bushels, 24 

 bushels per acre, $0.96 per bushel, $28,800; 

 buckwheat, 100 acres, 1,400 bushels, 14 bushels 

 per acre, $1.02 per bushel, $1,428; potatoes, 

 6,177 acres, 488,000 bushels, 79 bushels per 

 acre, $0.98 per bushel, $478,240; hay, 81,651 

 acres, 89,000 tons, 1.09 tons per acre, $24 per 

 ton, $2,136,000. Total number of acres 105,- 



778, and total valuation, $3,061,375. The 

 average cash value per acre is : Corn, $27.56 ; 

 wheat, $30.80 ; rye, $22.86; oats, $19.94; bar- 

 ley, $23.04; buckwheat, $14.28; potatoes, 

 $77.42; hay, $26.16. It is estimated that 

 there were in the State in February, 1871, 

 15,300 horses, worth $1,502,307, or an aver- 

 age value of $98.19; 18,800 oxen, and other 

 cattle, worth $975,908, or an average value of 

 $51.91; 21,900 milch-cows, worth $969,075, 

 or an average value of $44.25 ; 30,000 sheep, 

 worth $111,300, or an average value of $3.71 ; 

 20,400 hogs, worth $298,248, or an average 

 value of $14.62. 



CENSUS OF 1870. 



Included in the census are 154 Indians. In- 

 cluded in the assessed value of property is 

 personal property to the amount of $30,708,- 

 501, which is not distributed among counties. 

 The total taxation includes the sum of $63,- 

 982 not distributed among counties. The 

 true value of property was $296,965,646. The 

 public debt, county, city, town, etc., amounted 

 to $3,025,142. The aggregate value of farm- 

 products, including betterments and additions 

 to stock, was $4,761,063; 77,328 pounds of 

 wool were raised ; 21,901 persons, ten years 

 old and over, cannot write, of whom 8,681 

 are males, and 13,220 are females. Of those 

 twenty-one years old and over, who cannot 

 write, 5,922 are white males. 



RODMAN", Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet 

 Brigadier-General THOMAS J., U. S. A., born in 

 Indiana, about 1820; died at Rock Island, 111., 

 June 7, 1 871 . He entered the Military Academy 

 at West Point, in 1837, and upon graduating, in 

 1841, ranking seventh in his class, was promoted 

 to brevet second-lieutenant in the Ordnance 

 Department. From 1841 to 1848 he served as 

 assistant-ordnance officer at Alleghany Arsenal, 

 Pa., during which time he was detached to 

 Richmond, Va., Boston, Mass., and Pittsburg, 

 Pa., for the purpose of testing gun-metal, su- 

 pervising the manufacture of cannon, and ex- 

 perimenting with Bomford's twelve-inch colum- 

 biad. Having been appointed first-lieutenant 

 in 1847, he served in the Mexican War at 

 Camargo and Point Isabel Depots, and subse- 

 quently was in command of Alleghany Arsenal, 

 Pa., and Baton Rouge, La. In July, 1855, he 

 was made captain of ordnance, "for fourteen 

 years' continuous service," and from that pe- 

 riod until 1861 was occupied in experimenting 

 upon cannon, gunpowder, and carbines, in- 

 specting and fixing the quality of iron, etc.. 



etc., the results of which investigations were 

 published in a valuable work, entitled "Re- 

 ports of Experiments on Metals for Cannon, 

 and Cannon Powder" (1861). The Rodman 

 gun, invented by him, has proved of great 

 value both in the military and naval service. 

 The peculiarity of these guns consists in being 

 cast hollow, while a constant stream of cold 

 water passes through the bore, while they are 

 being cast, producing great hardness and tena- 

 city. For the improvements which have been 

 made in the mode of manufacture of gnnpow- 

 der for large cannon, within the last ten years, 

 the world is also indebted to him. The " mam- 

 moth powder" and the "perforated cake," 

 which were used more than ten years ago in 

 testing the first fifteen-inch gun, were made by 

 him ; and the trial of that gun in 1860 led to 

 the adoption of the "mammoth powder," 

 in 1861, for guns of large calibre. Speci- 

 mens of the "perforated-cake powder" were 

 taken from Fort Monroe to Russia by a dis- 

 tinguished artillery-officer of the Russian Army 

 in 1860. After having been successfully man- 

 ufactured in Russia, it was tested with results 

 so satisfactory that both that country and 

 Prussia have adopted this kind of powder for 

 their heavy rifle-guns, to the exclusion of all 

 other kinds. England has also, very recently 

 adopted for heavy rifle-guns, under the name 

 of " pebble-powder," the " mammoth powder " 

 of General Rodman, which we have been using 

 since 1861. During the rebellion he was in 

 command of the Watertown Arsenal, serving 

 from time to time on detached duties, and tho 

 important services he rendered to his country 

 did much to avert the threatened foreign com- 

 plications which might at the time have turned 

 the balance against us. Feeling his way grad- 

 ually, he increased the calibre of his heavy 



