Description

Roads had been built and ditches dug in the Black Swamp of the Northwest Territory. The area had been Indian Territory for many years, until the local tribes were offered free lands in the west and agreed to sell their Ohio land to the government, which would in turn allow settlers to homesetead. Some few Indians stayed to live among the settlers. The southern Black Swamp area had become Sugar Creek Township in Putnam County of Ohio. The Larger Putnam County was soon resized as more counties had been added to the state. This division split Sugar Creek Township, leaving half in Putnam County and half in Allen County of Ohio. Settlers soon saw the value of the swamplands, and discovered some of the best farm land in the country. They foresaw that ditching could bring the rich soil to the surface and become productive farmland. Farmers from many countries soon pioneered into the swampland, and the result was that they uncovered rich farmland surroundeed by woods with an abundance of wildlife, nut trees, fruits and plants. In the 20th Century, all farms included orchards, huge gardens, and a variety of animals, and wildlife. This book brings back those years of a more intelligent way of life, and a regard for the valuable environment that the forest had held before the 21st century, and includes the values students gained from a well-rounded education.