Sally Buffalo Park is operated by the Village of Cadiz. These parklands lie on the eastern slope of the Dividing Ridge, an escarpment that passes southwesterly through the eastern third of Harrison county. Here arise numerous unfailing springs whose water is led by a multitude of small streams to Indian Creek and thence to the Ohio River. To this land came some of Harrison County’s first settlers, one of whom was John McFadden Sr., a veteran of the Revolution from Washington County Pennsylvania

McFadden’s settlement or plantation as he called it, comprised a 640-acre tract whereon he cleared for a farm, built a distillery, and constructed a horse-powered Saw-Mill. In 1835 a portion of that plantation now included in this park was left to a son, Samuel Buffalo McFadden, whose unusual middle name came from the place of his birth at the headwaters of Buffalo Creek Pennsylvania.

Sam Buffalo took a wife named Sally and shortly thereafter (circa 1840) built a gristmill powered by the waters of the creek whose main tributaries now drain the western environs of Cadiz, and from the Major Lakes of this park. To commemorate the union of Sally and Buffalo McFadden both the stream and mill that served it became known as Sally Buffalo.

With Buffalo McFadden’s death in 1855, his mill fell into disuse and decay as did many other grist mills in Harrison County. The advent of quality flour easily transported to this area left no want for the grist-mill of earlier days.

A century after the closing of Sally Buffalo Mill, the neighboring hillsides were surfaced mined, and reclaimed. The Hanna Coal Company then developed the park on reclaimed land and open it to the public in 1965. It is named Sally Buffalo Park for its creek passing through it and for the old mill that once stood within its bounds, traces of which were visible as late as 1971

Today Sally Buffalo Park is both a symbol of corporate goodwill and an example of responsible conservation, to the employment of that old Place-name, Sally Buffalo, furthers the tradition of Historical interest that has long been maintained in Harrison County.