USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 12
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90
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
"Altho the country in general containeth both arable Land & good Pasturage; yet there are particular Spots far preferable to others: not only on account of the Land being here superior in quality: but also on account of the many advantages presenting themselves.
"At the first place of utility between the Pennsylvania Line: (yea I may say between Presq' Isle) and Cujahaga; & in an East and West course as the dividing Ridge runs between the Rivers which empty into the Lake Erie; & those Rivers or Creeks which empty into the Ohio: (& which Ridge I suppose runs nearly Paralell with this Lake, & is nearly or about 50 miles distance from the same) Cujahaga certainly stands foremost; & that for the following reasons :
"I. Because it admits small Sloops into its mouth from the Lake, and affords them a good Harbour.
"2. Because it is Navigable at all times with Canoes to the Falls, a distance of upwards of 60 Miles by Water-and with Boats at some seasons of the year to that place-and may without any great Expense be made Navigable that distance at all times.
"3. Because there is the best prospect of Water communication from Lake Erie into the Ohio, by way of Cujahaga & Muskingum Rivers: The carrying place being the shortest of all carrying places, which interlock with each other & at most not above 4 miles.
"4. Because of the Fishery which may be erected at its mouth, a place to which the White Fish of the Lake resort in the Spring, in order to Spawn.
"5. Because there is a great deal of land of the first Quality on this River.
"6. Because not only the River itself, has a clear & lively current, but all the Waters & Springs emptying in the same, prove by their clearnes & current, that it must be a healthy Country in general.
"7. Because one principle Land Road not only from the allegheny River & French Creek; but also from Pittsburg will pass thro that Country to Detroit, it being by far the most level Land path to that place.
"I will now endeavor to give an account of the Quality of the Soil of this Country : and will begin with the Land on the Cujahaga River itself.
"Next to the Lake the Lands in general lay in this part of the Country pretty high, (say from 30 to 60 feet high), except where there is an opening by a River or Stream. These banks are generally pretty level on top & continue so to a great distance into the Country. The Soil is good and the Land well Timbered either with Oak & Hickory or with lofty Chestnuts.
"On the Cujahaga River are, I verily believe as rich Bottoms, or intervals, as in any part of the Western Country. The Timber in these are either Black Wal- nut, or White Thorn Trees, intermixed with various other Tress as Cherry, Mulberry, &c. The ground entirely covered with high Nettles.
"In such Bottoms, somewhat inferior to the above, the Timber is principally lofty Oaks, Poplar, or Tulip tree, Elm, Hickory, Sugar Maple yet intermixed with Black Walnut, Cherry, Mulberry, Grape Vines, White Thorn, Haw-bush &c, &c, Ash &c. Wild Hops of an excellent quality grow also plentifully on this River.
"The richest Land on this River lieth from where the road crosseth at the old Town downwards. Within 8 or 10 miles of the Lake the Bottoms are but
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welin frontliter with comments.
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MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1796.
3
From the original in Western Reserve Historical Society
THE HAND WRITING OF MOSES CLEAVELAND Letter written from the Reserve in 1796
1
t
in new a viewing an anxious to settlethe qual insopraga march much perprofit and pains taken to gil settlers and the Profaneable lunds I have received many applications of their very settlers to purchase and settle ,wie The mult deund back some of our Boats tobring On the Provisions at Strach Give The Men are 1 you in good health and spirits Jaw with Sentiments of Effeen your im off obclient
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4
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
small, yet Land rich, from here upwards they are larger & richer. At the old Moravian Town marked on my Map, they are exceedingly rich. Some low bottoms are covered with very lofty Sycamore Tress.
"The Land adjoining those Bottoms within 10 or 15 Miles of the Lake is generally ridgy, yet level & good on top, excellently Timbered. Thro' these ridges run numbers of small Streams, & sometimes large brooks; the water is always clear with a brisk current.
"I have traced small streams to their Sources, where I have found a variety of excellent Springs lying off in various directions.
"From these lands upwards towards the old Town & along the path to the Salt Spring; the country is in general pretty level; just so much broken as to give the Water liberty to pass gentley off.
"There is a remarkable fine Situation for a Town, at the old Cujahaga Town; & there can be no doubt of a large Trading Town being established here, as both the Road to Sandusky and Detroit crosses here; as also the carrying place between the two Rivers Cujahaga & Muskingum must be at this place.
"Some miles above this Old Town there is a fall in the River. The Rock which runs accross may be about 20 & 30 feet high. No Fish can ascend higher up, or get over this Fall, tho there are Fish above it. Just under the Falls the Fish crowd together in vast numbers & may be taken here the whole year round. At the more Easterly Crossing of this River as the Path runs, (the distance of which I do not exactly recollect but think it between 15 & 20 miles) there is a most remarkable large Square Rock in the Middle of the Stream, which may at a future day, well answer the Pier of a Bridge. At this place there is a pretty large plain on the Northwest Side of the River and in several other places in this Country there are similar Plains or Flatts. On these the Land is rather thin in comparison to the other ; yet not so that it would not bear good Grain.
"There are also some Swamps in this Country, yet I have not seen one which might not be cultivated, and make good Meadows.
"Here and there I observed small groves of Pine, but never went to see of what kind they were. I supposed them only to border on some small Lake or Pond.
"There are some beautiful small lakes in this country, with water as clear as Chrystall & alive with Fish. In these lakes as well as in Cujahaga River Water Fowl resort in abundance in Spring & Fall.
"Between the head Waters of Beaver Creek & the head Waters of Cujahaga the Country is rather more broken, yet not too much for tillage. The Land is good.
From the big Deer Lick on Beaver Creek to the Salt Springs (a distance of about 16 miles) the Country is rather of a colder Nature; but thinley Tim- bered & much of a wet Clay ground. A com'y of gentlemen have obtained some years ago a Title to this Tract of Country comprehending the Salt Spring.
"I cannot leave Cujahaga without mentioning one Circumstance, viz. That when I left the Moravian Town on that River which was the Eighth day of October 1786 we had not then had one Frost yet, whereas all the Weeds & Bushes had been killed by the Frost some Weeks before, on the dividing Ridge. Ind'n Corn
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
this year planted at the above mentioned place on the 20th day of June ripened before the Frost set in.
"The Cujahaga Country abounds in Game, such as Elk, Deer, Turkey Ra- coons, etc. In the year of 1785, a Trader purchased 23 Horseload of Peltry from the few Indians then Hunting on this River. Of the country to the Southward of Cujahaga & between the dividing Ridge & Tussorawas where the line strikes across I cannot give a presice description having only seen this country in part, yet what I have seen has been pretty gen- erally good, except it be some barren Plains and large Cranberry grounds. Other- wise off the River and on the path from thence to Mahoning Old Towns, I saw vast bodies of very rich Upland, well Timbered, sometimes level Land, & then broken, especially the latter on the head of the Waters of Beaver Creek towards Mahony.
"From Tuscorawas Northerly for 12 or 15 miles I thought the Land very good, & observed extensive Meadows on the Banks of the Muskingum. But I think near the dividing Ridge the Country is rather Colder. The Country is in some places off the River interspersed with round Nobs or Hills, with short yet thick Trees upon them. The water of this Country is also clear and good.
"I will insert the description the late Geographer to the United States gives to this part of the Country, copied from a Pamphlet he had printed in London in the Year of 1778, which runs thus :
" 'The Muskingum is Navigable with large Batteaux or Barges to three Legs and by small ones to a Lake at its head. From thence, (namely from three Legs) to Cujahaga (The Creek leads to Lake Erie) the Muskingum is muddy, and not very swift, but no where obstructed with Falls or Rifts. Here are fine Uplands, extensive Meadows, Oak and Mulberry Trees fit for Ship build- ing, and Walnut, Chestnut & Poplar Trees suitable for domestic purposes- Cujahaga furnishes the best portage between Ohio and Lake Erie ; at its mouth it is wide enough to receive large Sloops from the Lake. It will hereafter be a place of great importance.'
JOHN HECKEWELDER.
"Bethlehem Jany. 12th 1796.
"John McNair Esqr.
In 1796 came the Connecticut Land Company's surveyors. A manuscript map of the Western Reserve as far as the Cuyahoga, by Seth Pease, is in the collection of the Historical society, as is also a map of the land west of the Cuyahoga. The latter is without date but probably is of the year 1806. These are the first maps of this country based on actual surveys. They give with few exceptions the name of the streams that are now borne by them, ignoring most all of the Indian and French names, but the spelling is not modern. The first engraved map of the Western Reserve was published about 1808, the date is uncertain. It was engraved by Seth Pease and Abraham Tappan. From this date the maps have been based on these early surveys. The name Cuyahoga, however, has not always fared well in the earlier editions. Dr. Jedediah Morse
* For reproduction of Heckewelder's map and description, see Western Reserve Histori- cal Society, Tract No. 64; also "Magazine Western History," Vol. I, p. 109.
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From a lithograph
GEN. MOSES CLEAVELAND
93
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
in an outline map of 1797 calls it Cayuga and also Cayahoga. It is fortunate that our river has retained its ancient Indian name, surviving the prosaic and practical temperament of the Connecticut surveyors.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANY-THE SURVEYING PARTIES -THE TOWN ESTABLISHED.
The details of the survey of the Reserve are given in Whittlesey's Early His- tory of Cleveland. The original manuscript notes of the surveyors are nearly all preserved in the archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
The reservation which Connecticut had shrewdly made in her cession of the western claim to the general government was finally sold in 1795. The attempt to sell the lands in 1786 resulted in failure. The Indian outrages made western lands an unattractive investment. The happy termination of Wayne's expedi- tion and his treaty with the Indians, wiped out these unfavorable conditions. At this propitious moment Connecticut, in May, 1795, ordered three million acres of her Reserve sold at a price not less than one million dollars, being one third of a dollar per acre, no portion of this acreage to be sold until enough purchasers were on hand to take it all. During the summer there was much bargaining and by September 2nd enough persons had presented themselves to take the whole tract at one million two hundred thousand dollars.t The thirty-five (sometimes called thirty-six) buyers associated themselves into a partnership or company un- der the name "The Connecticut Land Company." They were not a corporation in the modern legal sense. To a committee of three, John Caldwell, Jonathan Brace and John Morgan, they gave a deed of trust to their purchase. They adopted ar- ticles of association, divided their interests into four hundred shares of three thou- sand dollars each for voting and apportioning convenience, they determined the manner of surveys and the officers of the party and elected seven directors as fol- lows : Oliver Phelps, of Suffield; Henry Champion, second, of Colchester ; Moses Cleaveland, of Canterbury ; Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr .. of Lynn ; Roger Newberry, of West Windsor.
Their hardest task was to find an equitable way of distributing the land among the owners in common. They fixed on an ingenious and laborious plan before the surveys were begun. First, they agreed that six of the best town- ships east of the Cuyahoga should be set aside for sale, the proceeds to go to the general fund of the company. Second, they determined that four other townships of the "next best quality" should be divided into four hundred lots of one hundred and sixty acres each, that is, one lot for each of the four hun- dred shares. The rest of the land was then to be classified as to quality and
t See Appendix for list of names.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
divided into portions called drafts by the committee on partitions. The standard of a draft was to be the best entire township. By this standard of quality and value all other portions were measured. To the inferior townships were added lots and fractional townships until their value equaled that of the standard town- ships. Ninety-two such townships were measured off east of the Cuyahoga.
A surveying party of thirty-seven men was at once organized.1 The follow- ing were the officers : General Moses Cleaveland, superintendent; Augustus Por- ter, principal surveyor and deputy superintendent ; Seth Pease, mathematician and surveyor ; Amos Spafford, John Milton Holley, Richard M. Stoddard, Moses Warren, Jr., surveyors; Joshua Stow, commissary; Theodore Shepherd, physi- cian.
Early in June, 1796, the party were collected in Schenectady and set out for the Reserve. The horses and cattle were driven to Buffalo, while the men took the water. route in open boats down the Mohawk, across the "Great Carrying Place," through Oneida lake, down the Oswego river into Lake Ontario, thence around Niagara to Buffalo, a journey of several heavy portages and much hard- ship through an unexplored wilderness. On the evening of June 17th they reached Buffalo creek and spent several days negotiating with the Indians. On the 27th of June they left Buffalo creek and on Monday, July 4, 1796, "we that came by land arrived at the confines of New Connecticut and gave three cheers precisely at 5 o'clock p. m. We then proceeded to Conneaut at five hours, thirty minutes ; our boats got on an hour after ; we pitched our tents on the east side." 2
In the golden July twilight on the pleasant stretch of white beach that inter- vened between the lake and the primeval forest this band of hardy Americans celebrated with patriotic ardor, the anniversary of the birth of their country.
On the following day the labor of surveying the new land began. A log cabin was built on the banks of Conneaut creek for a storehouse and shelter. It was named "Stow Castle," in honor of Joshua Stow, the commissary. A spot was cleared around the hut and the first wheat crop on the Reserve was sowed. The surveyors were divided into four parties and were scattered to their tasks of surveying the first four meridians.
Meanwhile Moses Cleaveland proceeded by boat along the shores of the lake to the mouth of the Cuyahoga. He reached here on the 22d of July, 1796. As he rowed along our shores he saw that the overhanging ledges bordering the lake suddenly yielded to wide bottom lands, covered with a dense growth of trees and underbrush. Through this tangled vegetation a slow, winding stream made its tortuous path to the lake. Crossing the sand bar at its mouth the boat moved slowly along the eastern bank of the river until it reached the place where the ancient Indian trail crossed the valley. Here was a suitable landing and here, near the foot of Union lane, the founders of our city first landed. They eagerly climbed the high bluff and surveyed with enthusiasm the broad, level plain that stretched far to the eastward and northward to the lake. It is not improbable that Moses Cleaveland walked to the point of land that juts prominently into the valley near the present union of Water street and Lake avenue, and that from this place of vantage he scanned the broad valley, the sinuous river and the blue lake, sparkling in the sun.
1 See Appendix for list.
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95
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
It was an ideal spot for a town. Indeed there are very few places on Lake Erie that combine so many points of beauty and convenience even if we are un- mindful of the navigable river and its fortunate relation to the Tuscarawas valley.
The constitution of the Land company provided for a "Capital town to be surveyed into small lots." General Cleaveland had no special place in mind for the location of this capital town. He had, of course, heard of the Cuyahoga, for it had long been known as a stream with commercial possibilities. In 1765 Ben- jamin Franklin had suggested this as a suitable place for a military place. Wash- ington had spoken of a possible water route from Lake Erie to Ohio by way of the Cuyahoga and the Tuscarawas. Traders had carried word of it to the eastern supply stations and General Cleaveland, an officer in the Revolutionary army, knew of the reconnaissance of Major Craig in 1782. But it was not until Sep- tember that he determined upon this as the site of the principal town. He, however, at once ordered the erection of a cabin for the accommodation of the surveyors and another as a storehouse for their supplies. These log houses, the first of the real, permanent settlement of our city, were built on lots 203 and 201, to the south of St. Clair street, near Union lane, where there was a fine spring of clear water in the hillside. Later in the same year a hut was built for Stiles on lot 53, on the east side of Bank street, near Superior.
It is not known who were in this first boatload with Moses Cleaveland, prob- ably Joshua Stow and Job Stiles and his wife. During the summer most of the surveying party, at intervals, came to the Cuyahoga, although the entire party were never here at one time.
Moses Cleaveland was back in Conneaut on August 5th and sent his first re- port to the company. Of our river he says: "The Cuyahoga is navigable for sloops about eight miles as the river runs, and for boats to the portage, if the immense quantity of trees drove down and lodged are cleared out. The land excellent, the water clear and lively current, and streams and springs falling into all three rivers [the Cuyahoga, the Grand and the Ashtabula]. We went in a Schenectady boat, the 'Cuyahoga,' about twenty-five miles to the old Moravian Indian town, and I imagine, on a meridian line, not more than twelve or fifteen miles. Here the bottoms widened and as I am informed, increase in width and if possible in quality. I believe we could have proceeded further up the river but found the time allotted and the provision inadequate to perform the whole route. 'At this place we found a stream that empties into the river which will make a good mill seat [Tinker's creek]. The lands on the lake shore in some places low, here and there a small cranberry pond, not of any great extent, nor discov- ered low drowned lands of any bigness for twenty or thirty miles on the lake shore. On the east of the Cuyahoga are clay banks from twenty to forty feet high, on the top of the land level covered with chestnut, oak, walnut, ash and some sugar maple. There are but few hemlocks and those only on a swamp, pond or lake, and in the immense quantity of flood wood lodged on the lakes and rivers, I rarely found any of that wood. The shore west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga is a steep bank for ten miles, the quality of the soil I know not, but from the growth and kind of timber, these present no unfavorable aspect. I should, with great pleasure, readily comply with what I suppose you have here-
96
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
tofore expected, that I should leave this country about this time. I have not as yet been interrupted in a constant attention to business, more than I could have imagined or would have voluntarily entered into, and I see no prospect of its lessening at present. Those who are meanly envying the compensation and sitting at their ease and see their prosperity increasing at the loss of health, ease and comfort of others, I wish might experience the hardships for one month; if not then satisfied, their grumbling would give me no pain. I apprehend the stagnant waters in Lake Erie (except to the westward) must be of small dimen- . sions. The interior lakes and ponds, though not included in Livingston's com- putation, are, I expect, few and small, unless the land bears more to the north- west after it passes the Cuyahoga than it does this side, the surplus will not be consequential. It is impossible at present to determine on the place for the cap- ital. More information of the extent of the ceded lands and ye traverse of the lakes and rivers are wanted. This will cause delay and require examination. I believe it will be on the Cuyahoga, it must command the greatest communica- tion, either by land or water, of any other place on the purchase or any ceded lands west of the head of the Mohawk. I expect soon to leave this for the west- ward and shall make my residence there until I am ready to return to Connecticut. The men are remarkably healthy, though without sauce or vegetables, and in good spirits." 3
In consonance with this report he returned to the Cuyahoga and determined that it was the most available "place for the capital." The survey of the town lots was completed by the 17th of October and a name for the capital had been found. It was originally proposed to call it Cuyahoga but its Indian accents were evidently not pleasing to the surveyors, and they urged upon the general the propriety of giving his name to the town. On his return home he speaks of this: "I laid out a town on the banks of Lake Erie which was called by my name." *
After ratifying on September 30, the informal agreement made with the surveyors at Conneaut for extra compensation because of the unusual hardships
3 The original of this letter is in the Western Reserve Historical Society. It is reprinted in the "Annals of the Early Settlers Association," Vol. 3, p. 73.
* The old Saxon name was Clif-londe. The name was variously spelled by various branches of the family. General Cleaveland always included the "a" in the first syllable; it is so found in his letters and on his tomb. There was no uniformity in the spelling of the name of the town named after him. The first field map, made by Amos Spafford, bears the words in Spafford's hand writing, "original plan of the town and village of Cleveland, Ohio, October 1, 1796." But Spafford's second map, 1801, spells it "Cleaveland." The "a" seems to have been locally included until about 1830 or 1832. The village records generally but not uniformly retain the "a" and the newspapers include it in the headings of the papers. In 1832 the "Herald" dropped the "a" because a "sheep's foot" struck the letter in the heading and obliterated it; at least this is the story told in "Annals of the Early Settlers' Association," Vol. III, p. 366, by A. J. Williams. The same gentleman also quotes General Sanford as saying that the "Advertiser" dropped the "a" because its sheets, one day, were too narrow to include the whole word in the heading. Whatever the newspaper stories may be, the truth is that the "a" was not at all generally used by outsiders. In 1814 the act in- corporating the village spells the name Cleveland." Other Ohio laws, affecting the village, do likewise. So the geographies and Gazetteers omit the "a." This is true of "Morse's American Gazetteer," 1810; "Western Gazetteer," 1817; "Darby's Geographical Gazetteer," 1823; "The Ohio Gazetteer," 1817. In 1812 John Melish published his "Travels" and omitted the "a," as did also McKenney in his "Tour of the Lakes," 1826. The general custom of the world was to follow convenience, and this became the habit of the towns people, as soon as the primitive days were past, and a new influx of population swept aside the custom of the pioneer.
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