USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 35
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" It will be recollected that, in the last report of the board, caleulations were made upon the extent and value of the surplus water which it was believed could be drawn from the Miami River to that point. With a view to this object, the capacity of the upper end of this section of the canal is enlarged, for the purpose of re- ceiving and passing forward a greater supply of sater. The first ten miks front the river are constructing with an increase of one foot in depth and three and a half .in the width of the top water-line; and the next fifteen
144
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
miles with an increase of half a foot in depth, and one foot and three-fourths in the width of the top water-line. The increase of the capacity of the canal must propor- tionately enhanee its cost, and is another reason for the apparent disparity between the savings on this line at contract prices, compared with original estimates, and the other lines under contraet. It is, however, believed that the cost of this increase of the capacity of a part of the line will be more than reimbursed to the State in the value of the surplus water which is anticipated from it. Propositions have already been made by responsible indi- viduals to contract for the use of the whole amount of surplus water which can be delivered at Cincinnati, at the price placed upon it in the last report of the board.
"It will be recollected, when examining this compar- ative statement, that on the locks in this line there is no saving from the estimates owing to the seareity of stone, and that the first ten miles of the eanal, below the feeder from the Miami, is constructing with an increased depth of one foot and an increased width of three and a half feet, and the next fifteen iniles with an inercase in depth of six inches and in width of one foot, nine inches. The estimates of last year were made for a canal of the usual dimensions."
The contractors on the Miami Canal, with their re- spective sections in this neighborhood, were : John Hep- burn, 1, 2, 25, 34, 43; Warren Jarvis, 4, 19. 28, $1, 32; A. Amsden, 37, 41 ; Hale & Lyous, 26; Sells & Jewett,
"RECAPITULATION,
SHOWING THE SEVERAL KINDS OF WORK UNDER CONTRACT ON THE MIAMI CANAL FROM MIDDLETOWN TO CINCINNATI- FORTY-TWO MILES -- AMOUNT OF EACH KIND, AND THE AVERAGE PRICE AS CONTRACTED.
THE KINDS OF WORK.
AMOUNT OF EACH.
AVERAGE PRICE AS CONTRACTED.
TOTAL. .
Grabbing and clearing,
42 miles,
$1.083 per chain, about $327 per M .;
$13,735 3S
Excavation,
1,519,133 cubic yards,
Average cost per yard, $7.17 ..
113,959 32
Embankment,
688,628 cubic yards,
Average cost per yard, $10.04,
59,159 50
Calverts (26),
8,083 perches,
Average cost per perch, $207,
16,731 42
Culverts, pits, foundations, etc.
Estimated to cost, . ..
10.270 00
Locks (2), 100 feet lockage,
18.910 perches of masonry,
Average cost per perch, $4,
72,640 00
"Aqueducts, . .
9,882 perches of masonry,
Average cost per perch, $1.881
18,559 00
Excavations of lock-pits,
17,350 cubic yards,
Average cost per yard. $14.38,
2,495 00
Wooden trunks, .
478 feet,
Average foot-run. 703,04,
3.361 50
Excavations of pits and foundations,
Estimated to cost, . .
4,020 00
Waste-weirs. .
1,430 00
Road-bridges, wood-work,
Twenty-two,
Average cost, $104 each,
2.205 00
Road-bridges, embankment,
Twenty-two.
Average cost, nearly SGS each,
1,497 80
Wall of timber in the river,.
1,200 feet. .
Average cost, .67 per foot, .
$04 00
Pavement or protection wall, .
4,300 yards,
Average cost, .36 per yard.
1,554 00
Miscellaneous items, such as stone walls, channel of creeks, land-trains, etc.,
1.810 22
Mocking the whole length of the forty-two miles, 246,000 cubic yards, at 8 cents,
19,680 00
Total cost, Corrected,
358,294 14
Average cost per mile of 42 miles, including 12 locks,
$8,547 24
" The locks in the above abstract are placed at $4 per | 5; Thomas Freeman, 6; G. Perrine & Co., 14, 15, 17. perch. They were mostly contracted for to be built of timber, but have since been changed, and are to be built of stone, so far as it can be obtained at reasonable cost.
The line from the Ohio River to the Miami near Middletown, on the low level, was estimated
in the last report to cost,
. $381,140 00
To which add the difference in the cost of the high level, as estimated, . 45,000 00
$426,140 00
To which add ten per cent to cover contingencies as stated in the report, 42,614 00
Total cost as estimated, $468,754 00 Amount of contracts as above shown, $358,984 14 Estimated amount of line not under contract to the Ohio 75,926 00
Ten per cent. to cover contingencies
on the above items, . 7,592 00
412,502 14
Balance in favor of contracts, $26,25 86
20, 22, 38, 39; Dean and others, 23, 21, 29: S. Seo- ville, 11, 12, 13, 27 ; Scoville & Dean, 8; Sam'l Ward, 9; William H. Lytle, 3, 7, 35, 36, 40; John Babeox, 10; Bower, Adams & Co., 16, 18; Barney Sweeney, 42: Kay & Lyons, 33; James Dryer, 30; Joseph Evans. 21; Peter Carney, 44; James C. Caseadding, 45; William Patton, 46; Brannon & Boyle, 40; Everett & Co., 47, 48, 81. 87, 89 : Hepburn & Jarvis, 50. 74, 82. 83: Otho Craig, 51 : MeGonigle & Co., 52, 56; John Lyde. 53; Israel T. Gibson, 54; Thomas Sinnard, 55; Lyon- & Thompson, 57, 60; Richard Fallis, 57 ; Groghan & Len nard, 59; Elias Marray. 61; James Glenn, 62; D. Por- rine & Ca, 69, 68, 69 70, 72. 79, 86. 90; John A. Hays, 64. 87; 71; Jacob Reinerson. 65: De Kay, 66; Shether & Thaver, 80, 84, 85 ; John Waldron, 73; Gico. Hepburn, 75; Thomas Heckweller, 76: Price & Beard, 77, 78; E. Farrington & Co., 88.
$355,680 14
.
145
THE MIAMI CANAL.
In their next year's report the commissioners say : " A considerable portion of this line running though a dry and gravelly soil, the operations of the contractors were continuel through the Winter and Spring with con- siderable success, and during the Summer and Autumn the work has progressed in a vigorous and efficient man- ner. Of the forty-three miles of this canal now under contract, thirty-four are completed, and the remaining twelve miles, consisting mostly of heavy work at the lower end of the line, are in such a state of forwardness as to afford strong assurances that the whole line will be finished by the 1st of July next. No apprehension of a failure of this desirable end is felt, except as to two or three heavy embankments on Mill Creek; and these, if the Winter should prove favorable for work, it is be- lieved can be completed within that time. The finished work on this line, in addition to the excavations and em- bankments of the thirty-one miles, consists of nine locks, five aqueduets, twenty stone culvert:, varying in size from three to twenty feet chord, numerous paved waste- weirs, road-bridges, etc. The aqueduets and culverts on the whole line are completed, excepting the planking of the aqueduct trunks, which was directed to be omitied until Spring. Of the three locks remaining unfinished, one is very nearly completed, the walls of the second are raised to the upper meter-siff, and of the third to the height of four feet. They will be completed at an early day in the ensuing season.
"On the 2d of June last a contract was made for the construction of a dam across the Great Miami River above Middletown, a guard-lock, and a feeder forty-three chains in length from the dam to the canal. The work under this contract has progressed so far as to afford an assurance that it can be accomplished in the next season as the stage of the river will admit. In the mean time the canal may be supplied with water through the mill- race of Abner Enoch in sufficient quantity to answer all the purposes of navigation. It was found, by observa- Con during the last Spring, that the ponds at the head of Mill Creek, in the county of Butler, through which the canal passes in leaving the valley of the Great Mi- ami, would in that season of the year entirely overflow the banks of the canal, and for some months remain in that situation. To prevent this evil-which would not only at times interfere with the use of the canal. but would in a measure destroy it -- it was found to be neces- sary to drain the ponds by making a cut one mile and seventy chains in length. A contract was, therefore, made for cutting this drain, the cost of which is estima- ted at one thousand dollars. It is probably by this time completed.
" Contracts have also been made since the date of the lost report of the board for the extension of the canal into and through the city of Cincinnati, to a point near the head of the proposed locks, by which it is to be con- nected with the Ohio. These contracts, including those
for the dam-feeder and pond-drain, have been made upon terms as favorable to the State as those heretofore made for the construction of other parts of the work. So far the work is now completed, and the final accounts of it made out. It is found that in plain line the original es- timates of the work in each section correspond very nearly with the true result, and that the actual cost of such line will not exceed the estimated cost as stated in the last report of the board ; in some cases it is found to fall considerably short; but on rough, uneven, and side- lying ground, where heavy embankments and steep bluifs are encountered, a heavy portion of which is on this line, the engineers' final accounts, so far as they are now per- fected, show that the number of yards of excavation and embankment in each section, as then estimated, will fall considerably short of the true result. This deficiency in the estimates on the rough line is to be accounted for in the following manner: In making out an estimate of the amount of excavation and embankment for the accounts of last year, no other data could be had than a single line of levels divided into stations of three chains each, from which the average depth of cutting or height of the embankments was inferred. The result now shows that the number of yards then produced falls short, particu- larly on inclined grounds and steep bluffs. In addition to this, it has been found advisable on the heaviest parts of this line, with a view to greater security, to increase the base of the banks, and, where heavy bluff's are en- countered. to throw the center line of the canal farther into the hill or bluff bank, which has necessarily added much to the number of yards of earth to be removed. It has also been found necessary to relet some of the heaviest of these embankments at higher prices. From the scarcity of stone on the line, it was found necessary, in making the contracts for the locks and other stone- work, to stipulate a given distance within which it was then supposed stone could be obtained, and to agree to pay where the acting commissioner or engineer should be convinced of the necessity of going farther for stone for such extra hauling. It has been found impracticable to procure the necessary quantity of stone of a suitable quality within the distance assigned, and an extra allow- ance for hauling stone has been necessarily made to a considerable amount. Some lock excavation has been also unexpectedly encountered, and several paved waste- weirs, eulverts, and some pavement of the banks, have been added to it. These items of increased eost and the unforeseen variations in the amount of work to be per- formed will add considerably to the final cost of this sec- tion of the Miami Canal when compared with the esti- mates of last year. The exact amount of the increase, which is chargeable principally to the stone-work and the heavy embankments and blues. can not now be as- curtainen, as the kary work on the line is not yet. com. pleted ; nor is it in such situation as to permit accurate estimates of the cost to Be made. On that part of the
:
146
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
line between Middletown and the locks near Reading- thirty-one and a half miles-the excess of the actual cost over the estimates of the last year will be upwards of seventeen thousand dollars.
"There has been paid to contractors on this canal and the works connected with it, during the year ending on the first of the present month, $265,302.78, which, with $31,994, the amount of payments last year, makes the total sum of 8297,296.98 which has been paid on this line. The amount of the contracts which have been made on this canal from the final accounts of that part which is finished, and from the best estimate which can now be made of the unfinished parts, is as follows:
The thirty-one and a half miles contracted to be completed by the Ist of October, terminating at the head of the loeks near Reading (twenty- seven and a half, miles finished ), . . . $228,867 20
The line from the head of the locks near Reading to the junction of the Hamilton and Indiana roads, contracted to be finished by the 15th of May next,. 164.442 99 The dam, guard-lock, and feeder, from the Miami, 15,000 00
The pond-drain at the head of Mill Creek, . a 1,000 00
New line to and through Cincinnati, . 19,500 00
Total estimate of contracts on line, $433,809 20
" Deducting the total amount of payment on this line from the estimated amount of contracts, as shown above, will leave the sum of $136,512.22, required to accomplish the works now under contract. The acting commissioner on this line, as provided by law, has ap- pointed Matthias Corwine, of Warren County, James McBride, of Butler County, and Arthur Henry, of Ham- ilton County, to be a board of appraisers for the assess- ment of the damages claimed by individuals in conse- quence of the construction of the canal through their lands, and for the materials used in the construction of the works connected with it. The operation of the law in relation to the use of materials for the construction of the canals has produced considerable dissatisfaction on this line; but it is confidently believed there will be a disposition among the citizens of that part of the State to acquiesce cheerfully in the awards of a board of ap- praisers composed of men of unquestionably high stand- ing for uprightness of character and good judgment."
In the mean time canal-boats had been running on the portion which was completed, and many of the citi- zens of Butler and Hamilton counties had availed them- selves of the opportunity of a ride upon the canal. One of the Hamilton newspapers, on November 30, 1827, says :
"The S. Forrer, of Middletown, returned to this place on Wednesday evening last, on her way from Hartwell's basin, near Cincinnati, accompanied by the Washington and Clinton, of the Farmer's and Mechanic's line, with a party from Cincinnati. Yesterday morning they all left here in fine style for Middletown. The Washington and Clin- ton returned again in the evening of the same day, and left this place again early this morning for Cincinnati."
1
A little later the same paper says :
" The water was let into the lower section of this canal to the city of Cincinnati several days since (March, 1828). Boats are now running regularly from Middle- town to Cincinnati, a distance of forty-four miles."
On the 28th of March it reports the progress already made:
" It will certainly be pleasing to some of our readers to learn the result of the first week's experiment on this canal. The first entries that were made on the collect- or's books at this place were on the 19th of March. Be- tween that and the 26th there was entered for Cincinnati 991 barrels of flour, 432 barrels of whisky, 138 barrels pork, 576 kegs lard, and 86 barrels oil, besides a great. variety of other produce of the country for the Cincin- nati market. The boats on their passage outward were also generally full-freighted with merchandise and pas- sengers. The tolls entered upon the collector's books at this place during the first week, between the 19th and 26th, amounted to $229.36. Thus fair is the beginning."
In its issue of April 25th it has the following notice : "ARRIVAL EXTRA. - The Miami Rambler, a large pine eanoe, arrived at the Hamilton Basin on Friday last, in eight days from Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, a distance of seven hundred miles. Mr. Samuel Scott, a citizen of this county, with his son, were the passen- gers of the eanoe in her novel trip. They embarked on the head waters of the Alleghany River, proceeded down that river to its confluence with the Ohio River at Pitts- burg, then down the Ohio River to Cincinnati; from thence they proceeded on the Miami Canal, about thirty miles up the line ; their canoe was then hauled over the bank of the canal into the Miami River; then down the Miami to the mouth of Four-mile Creek ; then up Four- mile to Mr. Scott's residence."
In May the newspaper reported that Packet No. 1. Farmers' and Merchants' Line, P. A. Sprigman, master, had arrived at the Hamilton basin, and would ply regu- larly between Cincinnati and Middletown when the cana! was passable.
In November, 1828, the commissioners announce the completion of the lower level from Cincinnati to Middle- town, although some unexpected difficulties had been met with. They report :
" The first division of this canal, extending from the head of Main Street in the city of Cincinnati to the month of the Miami feeder, a distance of forty-four miles, has been completed during the past season. Its full con- pletion was delayed until the latter part of the season in consequence of the multiplied difficulties which had to be encountered by the contractors in completing their work on the heavy clins and embankments in the valley of Mill Creek. The greater part of the line was finished as early as midsummer. The introduction of water into this canal was commeneed about the Ist of July, and was attended with serious difficulties. By continued and
147
-
THE MIAMI CANAL.
persevering efforts thirty-eight miles of it were sufficiently filled by the 1st of November for the running of boats. The extensive beds of very coarse gravel over which the first twenty miles of the canal are constructed, with the dry condition of the earth and pure state of the water at this season of the year, rendered the operation of filling it difficult and tedious. The process was rendered more difficult from the cirennistance of there being but one point from which water could be drawn to supply the demand produced by the great absorption throughout the line below. Experience soon established the point that a patient perseverance was the only safe, and in the end the most expeditious, course which could be pursued. To increase the volume of water introduced from . the river, with a view to hasten its progress forward in the canal, only added to the liability of the new banks to give away, and thus to produce delays much more seri- ous than would be experienced by the flow of water in smaller quantities, proportioned more nearly to the powers of resistance of the new and porous banks. The first view of the difficulties in filling this section of the canal seemed to wear a discouraging aspect ; but a little observation and reflection only were necessary to satisfy the mind that the evil was merely temporary. The result has proved it to be so. Though by very slow degrees, and for a time scarcely pcreceivable, the absorption continued to lessen, until, with but little increase of the supply from the river, the canal was filled to a natural basin about six miles by the line of canal north of Cincinnati. It was deemed prudent to arrest the progress of the water at this point, with a view to allow the heavy clay embankment be- low it, under the seasoning influence of the Winter frosts and rains, time to settle and to acquire that solidity and strength which it is necessary they should have to render them safe, and which can only be acquired by the aid of time and the seasons. Embankments of the magnitude of these, where clay is the only material of which they are composed, can not be used while in a green and un- settled state without incurring greater risk than the die- tates of pradence will sanction. In the present case the obligation to adhere to the counsel of prudence was the more binding, as the season had too far advanced to per- mit the idea of doing much business on the canal before Spring. Navigation on this division of the canal may commence as early in the Spring as the bank can be raised, and such repairs made as the effects of the Winter upon this part of the line may render necessary; and a full confidence is felt that the business which will be done upon it, and the benefits resulting to the country, will be equal to the most sanguine expectations of the commissioners.
"On the 28th of November three fine boats, crowiled with citizens delighted with the novelty and interest of the occasion, left the basin six miles north of Cincinnati, and proceeded to Middletown with the most perfect she- ress. The progress of the boats was equal to about three
miles an hour through the course of the whole line, in- cluding the detention at the locks and all other causes of delay, which are numerous in a first attempt to navigate a new canal, when masters, hands, and horses are inexpe- rienced, and often the canal itself in imperfect order. The boats returned to the basin with equal success, and it is understood have made several trips since, carrying pas- sengers and freight. The success of these experiments in canal navigation and the obvious facility with which heavy burdens were moved by the power of even a single horse, must go far to convince the most incredulous of the high interest and importance of such a channel of commercial intercourse passing the heart of a country as populous and productive as that through which this canal passes.
" The levels throughout this line prove to have been taken with the nicest accuracy, and the work generally appears to have been constructed in a substantial manner. Some breaches have occurred on the first introduction of the water and in consequence of the late heavy rains, but not to a greater extent than must be expected in all new canals. The liability to evils of this nature will gradually lessen, as time and the effects of the water upon the banks increase their solidity and strength. Two breaches occurred in the course of the season at a point about five miles from Hamilton, where the canal was constructed iu the face of a binff bank with the river, and considerable depth of water immediately at its base. The embank- ment at its base yielded to the pressure from above, and spread in the deep water of the river. The breaches ard repaired, and probably have added to the security of the other parts of the same line of embankment. Another breach occurred in the embankment at Gregory's Creek, produced by the interference of an individual in chsing the lock-gates below without the knowledge of the super- intendent, before sufficient wasteways had been prepared to pass off the accumulated water. But the most serions injuries were experienced at the aqueduct over Mill Creek. From the peculiar character of the bottom of that stream, the spring-floods undermined the foundation of one of the piers so as to require the rebuilding of about ten feet of the head of the pier : and one of the wing walis of the same work also gave way a few days after that level was filled with water. The space within the wing-walls not occupied with puddle was filled with a very fine sand (the adjoining material), which, on being exposed to the influence of the water. became a quicksand, assuming a semi-fluid state. The powerful pressure of this mass overcame the wall, which, on a careful inspection, was found to have been built in a very unfaithful manner. The wall has been rebuilt, and the breach fully repaired, aad measures have been tal:eu, as far as practicable, to guard against similar (riks.
" The feeder from the Great Miami was completed .it an early day in the season : but the dam did not progress with equal success. When nearly completed, a swell in
£
148
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
the river, produced by the rains in October, caused a breach in the unfinished parts, which, from the advanced stage of the season and a constant succession of rains and high water, could not be then repaired, and its final com- pletion was necessarily postponed until another year. In the mean time a sufficient supply of water for the canal may be drawn from the river by the aid of the brush- dam, which gives the present supply. Immediately after the injury to the dam was sustained, the contract was declared to be forfeited ou the part of the contractor, the work taken possession of by the State, and measures imme- diately taken to secure the dam against further injury, which, it is believed, will be effectual. The principal engineer was directed to make a particular examination of the state of the work and of the accounts connected with it, from which it appears that the acting commis- sioner had retained from the contractor money sufficient to admit of the completion of the dam by the State within the sum which would have been payable had it been completed under the contract. This opinion is predicated upon the idea that the work will sustain no further injury. Several floods have occurred in the river since, which do not appear to have extended the injury. " Contracts were closed on the 26th of May for the construction of the remaining division of this canal, which begins at the mouth of the feeder from the Miami River, and terminates in a dam in Mad River about one mile above Dayton. That part of it from the saw-mill at Dayton to the Mad River dam is designed upon the present arrangement to serve as a feeder; but, in the event of the extension of this work to the north at any future period, to be used as a section of canal. This division to the dam is twenty-three miles and twenty- eight chains in length. It embraces ten locks, one aque- duct with a wooden trunk, three of heavy stone arches, with embankments of earth over them, and a dam across the Mad River. The remaining work is generally of the ordinary character, with the exception of the cedar bluff's near Dayton, and a very heavy bluff bauk at Vail's mill, immediately below the mouth of Clear Creek. At each of these points the river comes in contact with the high lands, presenting passes for the canal expensive and somewhat difficult to enconuter. The work on this line has progressed since its commencement with much activity, and is already in a very forward state. By the terms of the contracts, it is to be completed on the first day of June next. The advanced state of the work justifies the opinion that it will be completed all in the month of July.
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