Meigs Township

Meigs Township, in the southeast corner of Muskingum County, is the least populated of the county's twenty-five townships. Only 228 people lived there as of 2020, a considerable drop from its heyday in 1860 when the township boasted 1,547 residents.

Originally part of Rich Hill Township, Meigs was officially formed on July 13, 1819. The first township officers were Zoath and John Hammond, Llewelyn Pierce, and Jacob Wortman. The distinction of being the first white settlers, however, goes to Finley Collins and the Gillogly family. Other early settlers included Dunlap, Gilbaut, Johnson, Starritt, and McIntire. The township was named for Meigs Creek which runs through the township, but that was named for Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. who served as Ohio first Chief Justice, a U.S. Senator, and Ohio's fourth Governor.

Meigs has no population centers now, although in the second half of the 19th Century and into the early

Return J. Meigs, Jr.

 part of the 20th, there were three thriving communities: High Hill, Zeno, and Young Hickory also called Meigsville. All three villages had post offices, often seen as a sign that an area was thriving. High Hill and Young Hickory had post offices established as early as 1846; Zeno's post office was established in 1862. 

Meigs Township is characterized by high hills and deep ravines. Four creeks traverse through it. The first white settlers seem to have made an effort to farm the land and set out orchards, but the presence of large deposits of coal changed the nature and the history of the township, bringing prosperity at first, and then literal destruction of the above communities. 

In the 1960's, American Electric Power and Central Ohio Coal Company began large scale strip mining to supply coal for electric power plants. Huge equipment, most famously the Big Muskie, literally tore Meigs Township apart. The villages of High Hill, Zeno, and Young Hickory disappeared, and the land was left hideously scarred. When the mining was complete, AEP began an extensive reclamation project that created rolling hills, several small lakes, and a wildlife habitat. In 1980, AEP donated 9,000 acres of the reclaimed land to establish The Wilds, one of the world's largest conservation centers.

The Big Muskie