The property damage in Columbus, like the death toll, was confined principally to the west side, the business and manufacturing districts having gone almost unscathed. THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION Governor Cox and the State Relief Commission on Tuesday left on a tour of the state to visit cities and districts that were hit hardest by the flood to determine what relief was necessary in each case. Before their departure, however, conditions in Columbus were fast approaching normal, and the residents with a cheerful, courageous spirit had commenced the repair of their devastated city. CHAPTER VIII COLUMBUS: THE BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL OF OHIO CAPITAL OF OHIO SINCE 1810--EARLY HISTORY--CITY OF BEAUTIFUL STREETS AND RESIDENCES--SPLENDID PUBLIC COMMODITIES--TRADE AND INDUSTRIES--CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS RESIDENTS. Columbus, Ohio, the capital of the state and the county seat of Franklin County, is located at the center of the state at the junction of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, on a slightly elevated alluvial plain, and is nearly equidistant from Cincinnati, southwest; Cleveland, northeast; Toledo, northwest; and Marietta, southeast, the average distance from these points being one hundred and fifteen miles. It has a population of some 180,000. Columbus was made the capital by the legislature in 1810, and became the permanent capital in 1816, the original territorial and state capital having been Chillicothe. The first state buildings were of brick, and cost $85,000. The present massive buildings and additions are of dressed native gray limestone, in the Doric style of architecture. They cover nearly three acres of ground, and their total cost has been $2,500,000. CITY OF BEAUTIFUL STREETS AND RESIDENCES