Section 16.

The Ordinance of 1787 stipulated that "Section 16" of every Congressional township should be reserved for the maintenance of schools in that township. The object of this school grant was not so much for the furtherance of education by Congress as it was an in- centive to settlers. This reservation was not open to sale or settlement, and consequently the territorial Leg- islature could do nothing with it. When Ohio became a state these lands were granted to her to be disposed of by the Legislature. There was thus left to Ohio for school purposes the Splendid endowment of 704,000 acres. The income only from this land could be used. In consequence up to 1827 they were leased and rented in various ways. The appraisement of their rental value was often low and much mismanagement caused the revenue to be of little value. The Legislature finally in 1827 provided for their sale. The money was turned into the State Treasury and the township to which the section belonged should receive six per cent interest. Much of it was sold at once but in some parts of the state there are tracts yet unsold. In our own county the first was sold in 1831 and the last in 1883. We have twelve "school sec- tions." The townships of Pleasant and Coal, being formed from other townships do not happen to have Section 16 within their limits. The amount received from their sale in Perry county was $27,829.33. This gives the schools an annual income of $1,669.76. It 96

is divided among the twelve Congressional townships according to the amount for which their respective sections sold. The following is the sum each township receives. Bearfield ................................. $30 21 Clayton ................................... 143 95 Hopewell ................................ 117 14 Harrison .................................. 392 80 Jackson ................................... 82 91 Madison .................................. 88 38 Mondaycreek ......................... 120 00 Monroe ................................... 39 30 Pike ........................................ 258 54 Reading ................................... 168 60 Saltlick .................................... 107 56 Thorn ...................................... 120 37 The above amounts do not represent the actual sum each township can use for its schools; for the po- litical township is not always co-extensive with the "survey township." In the case of Bearfield, her $31.21 is divided per capita for all persons of school age, residing in Bear- field and the nine sections given to Pleasant. Pleas- ant township receives the per capita rate of Bear- field for her children of school age in those nine sections. Pleasant township also receives the per capita rate of Monroe township, for the number she has living in the three sections taken from Mon- roe. In like manner she gets from Saltlick for the one section and from Pike for the four sections. Saltlick's $107.56 is divided among the schools of Saltlick, Coal and Pleasant. Mondaycreek must pay almost half of her revenue to Hocking county. Har- rison and Madison must pay to Muskingum, while 97

Reading, the most fortunate of all gets from Fairfield, on account of those two rows of sections on the west. Every one of school age in the county gets a share of this income. Every school board gets its allotment. A joint district between two townships is entitled to an amount from the township in which the school house is not situated. It is a curious fact that in Thorn and Hopewell townships, school lands were sold out of Section 15. In the latter almost all of both Sections 15 and 16 were disposed of for the schools. The only reason we can find for this irregularity, is that in many cases, Section 16 had been "entered" before the survey was properly made. The law gave permission to take in lieu thereof other land that had not been sold. The setting aside of this land for the schools, is one of the achievements for which the United States Congress under the Articles of Confederation, deserves no small honor. While the results have not been as great as its promoters anticipated, yet it was an induce- ment for the early settlers to found schools. One thirty- sixth of all the land for the dissemination of educa- tion in a wilderness, gives us an idea of the character of the men who labored for the struggling young na- tion in the trying ordeal of post-revolutionary days. It is no wonder that Ohio should obtain and maintain a prestige in the production of men, when in her very incipiency, the means of developing the mind were not overlooked in the struggle for life and home in the forest. 98

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