Source: The Zanesville Daily Courier, Zanesville, Muskingum Co., Ohio
Saturday, April 6, 1878, page 1, cols 2-3
Contributed by Teddy Brock

The Early History of Zanesville
By E. M. C.

For the Courier,

The old citizens of Zanesville and Muskingum county, whose hair have long been streaked with gray, and whose steps are tottering--who have seen their companions, friends, and comrades of early years step from the stage one by one--depart from the haunts of men and take up their abode with the "silent majority," love to talk and read of the olden times when they were young and vigorous, jovial and happy. For this class of our people these sketches are written. It would be well for the young and vigorous, the laughing and jovial youths of today, to call to mind occasionally that time is fleeting, and each year passes more swiftly than those preceding, and the time will soon come when the mind will love to linger on the scene of the early years, and call up in rotation the early friends and comrades who have passed away to that unknown and undiscovered country, to which all are so fast hastening.

Daniel McLain arrived in Zanesville on the 2nd day of May, 1806, and worked with his brother, Allen McLain, at the carpentering business. He aided in laying the floors of the William Montgomery Hotel, in 1806, his brother Allen having erected the building the preceding year. The boards being green, they were laid loose for the purpose of seasoning. This was the first frame building erected in Zanesville. Mrs. Dr. Martin, when a little girl, of five or six years, was accustomed to call the workmen to their meals. Pet bears were quite common in those early days, and Mr. Montgomery kept one in his backyard. After the hotel was finished Daniel McLain aided to do the carpentering work on the first brick house built in Zanesville. This house was owned by Monroe and Convers. The brick-work and plastering was done by William B. Wright, a Philadelphia bricklayer, also son-in-law of Frederick _______. This brick house was 36x28, one story in height, and divided into two rooms. The corner room was used as a store room, and the east room, twelve feet in width, for offices and shops. It stood on the southeast corner of Main and Fifth streets.

Mr. Elijah C. Mervin occupied this office for several years before his death, which took place in the winter or spring of 1817. He was a very prominent lawyer here in early days. In the same building General Charles B. Goddard first hung out his law office sign. After this building was finished the McLains went to work for John McIntire. They aided to build his saw mill and mill race. In the fall of 1806, or the following winter the two brothers laid the floor of John McIntire's log hotel. The floors were at first laid with puncheons. In 1810 Mr. McLain helped to build the large brick house on the corner of Sixth street and Locust alley for Samuel Frazey. It had a basement of stone, and three stories of brick. it was built for a hotel, and kept by the owner, Samuel Frazey. The tavern was constructed for the accommodation of the members of the Legislature when it held its sessions in Zanesville. The building was only used for a few years as a hotel, and then rented by several families for dwellings.

The corner room was used for a school room by Jonathan Hobby, John W. Spry, Mr. and Mrs. Colerick, who established here a seminary for young ladies. The building was taken down and the Fracker foundry built on the site. Daniel McLain was married to Mary Frazey, by Squire Thompson, November 26, 1809. Mary Frazey was a sister of Samuel Frazey. the proprietor of the Frazey hotel. The writer had a conversation with Mr. McLain a few years before he died, in which conversation he gave an account of the great quantity of fish caught in the Muskingum during the latter part of 1809.

A company was formed consisting of John McIntire, Christian Spangler, Samuel Parker, Frederick and Michael Hahan [Hahn] to catch fish by means of a fish pot. Frederick and Michael Hahan constructed the fish pot at the head of the second falls about where Hatcher's factory for the manufacture of coffins stands. After the fish pot was finished, there came a sudden rise in the river, and the fish began to run downstream, and in passing the falls, thousands of them were caught in the fish pot. Frederick and Michael Hahan raked the fish from the pot into a flatboat and brought them to the shore and carried them in baskets from the boat. During the night the river rose so high that the fish pot was carried away and the operations stopped. It was calculated that the fish caught during the night would fill from seventy-five to one hundred barrels. In the morning the fish were assorted and divided. Several wagon loads were sent to Lancaster and Chillicothe, and several to Cambridge, and the citizens along the route were supplied with fish.

Silas Johnson, at that time McIntire's colored boy, informed the writer that he remembers of seeing the pile of fish the next morning after they were caught. Mr. McIntire got a big ox cart which would hold thirty-five bushels, ____ for his share. Increase Brookover informed the writer that his father took him down to the river to see the pile of fish the next morning after they were caught. Mr. Geo. Parker also spoke to the writer about the pile of fish. His father was one of the fishermen. The summer had been very dry, and the fish, it appears, had not been able to run downstream, as it was their custom in the fall to get into deep water, and when the rise came, they made a rush for the Ohio river. The Muskingum river has always been noted for the fine quality of its fish. The Indians, in their day, considered the Muskingum river fish of a better quality than those of any other western river. When the white man first settled on the banks of the Muskingum, the water was literally alive with fish.

The writer can remember of seeing old fishermen stand on the dam, and haul up half a bushel of fish each time they raised the dip net. Sturgeon were then found in the Muskingum, five or six feet long. There were pike and white salmon, from three to four feet long. There were then what were called spoon fish, which have entirely disappeared. They were spotted fish with, with a nose shaped like a spoon. They were a curious fish, but never eaten. The suckers and red horse were the first fish that came up the river in the spring. Perch, bass, catfish and jack salmon were also very plenty. At certain seasons of the year the gar fish made its appearance. This fish had a long bill and was a great pest to the fishermen. The gar fish was never eaten. When the fishermen caught one, they would take revenge upon it by mashing his head with a stone.

There were also what were called alligators, which the fishermen heartily despised. They would take the bait in their mouths and then cling to the stones at the bottom of the river with their claws. And by so doing, break the line. Col. John Sockman informed the writer, that he, when a young man, waded from the West Zanesville side of the river to a flat boat anchored below the old dam wing, and standing upon it, he caught in less than a day, one hundred and thirty-six large white perch, with a hook and line. The writer remembers of seeing as late as the fall of 1827, schools of fish long the shore, about three miles below the city, numbering thousands. The water was apparently black with them. The greatest fishermen of the early days were Captain Harkness Boyd and Absalom Boyd. After the dams were built upon the Muskingum, the fish couldn’t run up in the spring to deposit their spawn, and from that day, the fish began to grow fewer and fewer in number, yearly. Some efforts have been made of late years to replenish the Muskingum with fish, which experiment, it is to be hoped, will prove successful.

Daniel McLain helped to build the small grist mill on Flat run, one mile from its mouth. The mill was the property of Samuel Frazey. It was built in 1813, and 1814, and had two run of stone. Mr. McLain attended to the mill for Mr. Frazey for two years, after which John morrow took charge, and superintended the running of the mill for several years. Soon after this mill was built it manufactured several hundred barrels of flour, of first rate quality. The flour was taken down to the New Orleans market on flat boats. In early days, farmers came for several miles around to have their wheat ground into flour. The writer recollects of being in the mill while it was in operation. Years after the mill was built the water began to fail and as the country became cleared, the water entirely failed and the mill was abandoned, and went to decay.

Today there is not a vestige of it to be seen. It was thought by the old settlers that as the country became cleared out the water would increase, but the opposite proved to be the case. In the fall of 1808, Daniel McLain finished the first store room for James Taylor, Sr. The property belonged to Samuel Parker. It was a hewed log house and was located in Mud hollow, corner of Fifth street and Sewer alley. Daniel McLain was a member of Capt. Benoni Peirce’s Company of Light Horse Cavalry, and went to war on the border of with the company and served until peace was proclaimed. Mr. McLain owned a farm near the old mill site on Flatrun, where he lived for many years and died May 6, 1870, in the 87th year of his age. He was a very honest, fair dealing man, and much respected by his neighbors.
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