Beauty of Location
From The History of Clark County, Ohio
Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1881 - Page 430
By Oscar T. Martin
A more favorable location for a prosperous city could not have been selected. The extensive area of table-land that lay thirty feet or more above the level of Buck Creek, with an undulating surface, or rising into abrupt bluffs, opened from this chosen site not only a variety of scenery, but a broad range for an extended growth. We take the following description of the landscape from a faithful narrator — Dr. John Ludlow:
"The scenery had all the irregularity and variety of a New England landscape, without its hardness and abruptness. For several miles east and south of the new village of Springfield, the country was an undulating plain, which in the summer was covered with tall grass, mixed with a great variety of flowers, among which a species of wild pea, very fragrant but now extinct, was abundant. The country north for miles was an unbroken forest of large trees in great variety. The beautiful and never-failing stream called Buck Creek, or Lagonda, fringed its northern border with clear, running water. Mad River, with its rapid current, was within a couple of miles of its northwestern boundary. The 'Rocks,' or perpendicular bluffs, filled with deep strata of solid limestone on either side of Buck Creek as it advanced toward its junction with Mad River, were covered with cedars, hanging vines, ferns, mosses and flowers; the wild grape-vine hung from the stately trees and dipped its tendrils into the placid stream below; the sycamore bent its projecting boughs over its banks, while the sugar maple and mulberry, towering above, with the dogwood, redbud, spicewood, butternut, buckeye and other trees, with their variegated leaves, formed a beautiful and attractive picture. Near the mouth of Mill Run, a little rivulet which flowed near the south and west lines of the village, the scenery was unusually attractive and romantic. The little stream went tumbling over the rocks in order to reach the brief valley below and empty its waters into Buck Creek. On each side of this cascade, there were high, projecting rocks, covered with honeysuckles and wild vines and beautiful ferns, which hung down in festoons as a curtain to the chasm below, which was taller than a man's head. On the east side of this chasm, there was a large spring of water flowing from a round hole in the rock, with a strong current, remarkably cold, and depositing a yellow sediment. On the west side, there was another spring of delicious water, which, in after years, slaked the thirst of little fishing and picnic parties, who found delight on the banks of Buck Creek in the wild and picturesque valley."