Gov. Thomas Worthington first came upon the Great Falls of the Hock-Hocking while searching for a location for a wheat and corn mill. Worthington suspected rich mineral resources lay beneath the rolling hills, and he reasoned the area could grow and flourish. In his diary he wrote, "27 June 1816. I begin to lay out a town 1 mile east of the Falls." The coming of the canal in 1840 was instrumental in the growth of the small county-seat village. Prosperity...