CfTIES AND TOWNS. 339 



Chillicothe. — This town was laid out in the thick woods, 

 in the summer of 1798 by general Nathaniel Massie, assisted 

 by general Duncan McArthur. The- latter erected the first 

 white man's dwelling in the town which was made of the baiks 

 of trees from the thick forest here then growing. This town, 

 as we have seen, was once the seat of the state and territori- 

 al government, and here* the constitution was framed, during 

 the month of November 1802, seven years after this town was 

 laid out. Its streets are wide and straight, crossing each other 

 at right angles and the town faces the Scioto, which bounds it 

 on the north. It contains about five thousand people, many of 

 whom are among the wealthiest in the state. It enjoys many 

 advantages, such as lying on the Ohio and Erie canal, and all 

 the roads seem to centre here from all points of the compass. 

 And these roads are in a state of improvement rapidly at pre- 

 sent. The land along the Scioto river, along Paint creek and 

 Deer creek, is excellent. Here the Scioto enters the hilly re- 

 gion, and Chillicothe has around it, a highly romantic country, 

 with all the varieties of hill and dale, of woods and highly 

 cultivated farms, of Ixnd and water, of the slow moving Scio- 

 to and the canal with its boats and its commerce, with the 

 stage's horn, and the canal boat's bugle to arrest our attention. 



The state of society here is highly cultivated, and even fa- 

 cimting, none more so any where in the Union. The ladies 

 of Chillicothe have always been admired for their beauty, ele- 

 gnnce of manners, education and pure patriotism. It was 

 here, that these ladies voted a sword to m^-jor Croghan, in the 

 last war, for his gallant deeds in battle when defending Fort 

 Stevenson. Female education is greatly promoted by Chilli- 

 cotheans, and their sons are not neglected in this respect. 

 From its wealth, its position, its fertile soil around it, its canal 

 and water power, Chillicothe must become an important in- 

 land town, a place of wealth and commerce. 



Its professional men of all sorts, are now, and always have 

 been highly respectable f)r their talents, learning, industry 

 and strict moral prin^iioles. The citizens of this town are as 

 active, enterprising and useful as any others in the state. 



