A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 87

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 87

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The hardships of carrying freight in these years shown by the following statement of Schuyler C. Oviatt: "In September, 1831, a merchant firm near here had about fifty tons of cheese, more or less, to ship to a commission house in Cincinnati. J. W. Weld of Richfield acted as supercargo to make the transit and I, a lad just in my teens, accompanied him. The cheese packed in casks, was hauled in wagons to Boston on the Ohio canal and loaded in a canal boat. The Ohio canal at that time was finished only to Dresden, about half way to the Ohio river. Arriving at Dresden, the cheese was loaded on wagons and taken about one mile across land to the Muskingum river and loaded on a flat boat or ark, then floated down with the current all the way to Marietta. Many were our experiences during that serpentine trip, usually being obliged to tie

up the boat at night. * * The cargo was promptly delivered in about

"Johnson "History of Cuyahoga County," p. 525.

6 See "Herald," Dec. 11, 1821.

PIONEER FAST STAGE LINE

From CLEVELAND to PITTSBURG,

Leaves daily at 8 o'clock A. M., via Bedford, Hudson, Ra- venna, Deerfield. Salem and New Lisbon, to Wellsville, where they will take the

STEAM BOATS.

WELLSVILLE AND NEW LISBON TO PITTSBURG. Through in 30 hours from Cleveland,

Being the shortest route between the two cities, and afford- ing a pleasant trip through a flourishing part of Ohio, on a good road, and in better Coaches than any line running to said place. The above line is connected with the

Good Intent Fast Mail Stage, AND Pioneer Packet & Rail-Road Lines,

For Philadelphia, New- York, Baltimore and Washington City, in which passengers travelling in the above line have the preference. OFFICE in Mr. Kellogg's new building, opposite the Franklin-House, No. 36 Superior-street, under the Ameri- can House.

J. R. CUNNINGHAM, Agent.

Cleveland, July, 1837.

A PAGE FROM THE FIRST CITY DIRECTORY

LAT.STORE

FRANKLIN HOUSE

CLEVELAND, OHIO.

From original in Western Reserve Historical Society

STAGE COACH HEADQUARTERS

685

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

one month after starting on its journey. * Passengers could make the trip by stage in three or four days, when the roads were good." 7

It took two months to drive a drove of cattle to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1841.

TURNPIKE AND PLANK ROAD COMPANIES.

With the completion of the Ohio canal the state seems to have abandoned the policy of laying out state roads and instead gave to private corporations the right to improve certain roads and then charge a toll. The state subscribed usually for a portion of the stock in the company. At once there sprang up in every part of the state innumerable turnpike and plank road companies. They were called "The Farmers' Railway," and for a time they flourished. By 1870 they had virtually all vanished and the counties were charged with the improve- ment of the roads.

The first plank road completed in this vicinity was the Chagrin Falls road.8 In November, 1849, five miles of this road were planked and on November 22d, the first toll was collected. The planked portion of the road was eight feet wide; the turnpike portion, well graveled and ditched, was forty feet wide. This road enabled one to drive from Newburg to Cleveland in thirty minutes, to the delight and marvel of the travelers and it was estimated that a team could draw four and a half times as much over its planks than over an ordinary dirt road. There was some fault found with the tolls. They were as follows: A two horse wagon loaded, two cents a mile; unloaded, one cent; for every ad- ditional horse, one half cent; for pleasure carriages, one cent a mile for each horse; horse and rider, one cent per mile; droves for every twenty horses, one cent, for every twenty head of cattle one half cent, and for every twenty sheep or hogs a quarter of a cent a mile.

The plank road to Willoughby was next completed and was soon followed by plank roads to Twinsburg and Rockport. A plank road was contemplated to Wooster in 1845, when there was a meeting in the courthouse to talk it over and Samuel Starkweather, Prentiss Dow and W. F. Allen, Jr., were asked to confer with Wooster and the intervening towns. But it was not until 1849 that a company was incorporated and a road begun. These roads stopped at the city limits. The streets were not paved and the horses and wagons often "wallowed in the mud" as they entered the city.9 These turnpikes were main- tained by tolls. Various rates were charged in various parts of the state but on March 12, 1844, a law was passed providing for uniform toll on all state turnpikes. The following April a meeting of stockholders was held in Columbus to fix the tolls. It does not appear that there were any representatives from Cuyahoga county present at this meeting. The following rates were adopted : For every ten miles traveled: for every sheep two and one half mills; for every hog, five mills; for every horse, three mills; for every rider, six and one quarter mills ; two or four wheeled vehicles drawn by one animal, twelve and one half mills; each additional animal, six and one quarter mills; every four wheeled

7 "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. 4, p. 470.

s "Herald," Nov. 28, 1849.

9 "Herald," July 4, 1850.

686

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

vehicle, including carriages, barouches and stages, drawn by two horses, twenty- five mills, each additional horse, six and one quarter mills; every sled or sleigh, drawn by one animal, ten mills; each additional animal, five mills. All wagons carrying less than five thousand pounds, with a tire not less than four inches wide, were given a reduction of twenty-five per cent. "All wagons carrying over five thousand pounds to be charged full toll without reference to width of tire," and an additional charge for excess weight was provided.10

STAGE COACHES.

But the glory of the ante-railroad days was the stagecoach, with its rollick- ing companionship making amends for its discomforts, its wayside taverns and its rushing importance through village streets and country roads, giving an air of the England of Dickens and of our own Irving to the travel. Of stage routes Cleveland had a number. "Cleveland during that period was a noted center of the stage lines between the east and the west and the south, until that system of travel was superseded by the railway system about 1850, when the blast from the bugle and the crack of the stage driver's whip was no more heard along the turnpike on the high and dry parallel ridges and ancient shores of Lake Erie."11

One of the first stages was opened to Painesville in 1818. "The Gazette," August 11, 1818, announces : "A mail stage has commenced running between this village and Painesville. It leaves Painesville every Thursday at 4:00 o'clock p. m. and arrives in this place every Friday at 10:00 o'clock a. m., and leaves this village the same day at 2:00 o'clock p. m. and arrives at Painesville every Saturday at 8:00 o'clock a. m. Persons traveling to Painesville will find it to their interest to go in the stage, as traveling can be done with greater facility than by riding a single horse, and the expense is not so great."

In 1820 a stage line was established to Columbus and Norwalk, and soon thereafter to Pittsburg. The Norwalk line left Cleveland every Friday at 1:00 o'clock p. m., and Norwalk every Wednesday at 12:00 m. In 1824 a stage was running to Pittsburg twice a week, also one three times a week to Buffalo, and one twice a week to Norwalk. "These lines afford great facilities to travelers and men of business, and the news of the day circulates with celerity compared with what it did a few days ago." 12

The Columbus line seems to have given a good deal of trouble. The roads to the south were through a clay soil and almost impassible. "Another failure of the western mail renders it out of our power to give any later intelligence from our state legislature than was published in our last. We hope that we shall be no longer disappointed in the receipts of southern papers as there is a mail route established direct from Columbus by the way of Worthington, Mt. Vernon, Loudonville, Wooster, Harrisville and Medina, to this place. The mail on the above established route arrived here on Wednesday evening last but (probably from the circumstance of its being the first time) there were no

10 "Ohio Documents" No. 22, 1845.

11 Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio," Vol. I, p. 504.

12 "Herald," April 2, 1824.

687

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

packages from farther south than Wooster. As the arrangement now is, the mail will arrive here on Wednesday at 6:00 p. m. and leave on Thursday at 6:00 a. m." * But the anticipation of the careful editor was not fulfilled. The mail from the south was not regular and "no mail from Columbus," continued to be a frequent comment in the papers.

In 1826 the stage fare from Euclid to Erie, one hundred and four miles, was three dollars. The stage left Belden's tavern every evening at 10:00 and arrived at Erie the next afternoon. The fare to Buffalo, two hundred miles, was six dollars, and forty hours were required for the journey.

In 1833 an "opposition line" was started to Buffalo and Erie. The stage left from Welsh's Commercial Coffee House every morning at 4:00 o'clock. As traffic increased, competing lines multiplied. In 1837 the following lines were in operation: "Buffalo via Erie, every day at 2:00 p. m .; Pittsburg via Bedford, Hudson, Deerfield, Salem, etc. 'Pioneer Stage Company,' every morn- ing at 8:00 o'clock. Pittsburg mail stage every day at 10:30 p. m .; 'Pittsburg- Phoenix line,' 8:00 a. m. daily ; Detroit daily at 5:00 a. m., Columbus and Cin- cinnati every other day via Wooster and Mt. Vernon." The Pioneer line adver- tised its stage "to Wellsville, thence to Pittsburg by boat, time from Cleveland thirty hours." At Pittsburg connections were made for Philadelphia and the east. In the winter when the roads were in frightful condition, it sometimes took twelve days to go to Pittsburg.13

In 1846 there were stages to Buffalo via Erie; to Pittsburg via Beaver; to Cincinnati via Columbus; to Detroit via Toledo; all leaving every morning at 8:00 o'clock. Also a stage to Warren leaving Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 5:00 a. m., connecting with a line of packets to Beaver and steamboat to Pittsburg. These stages all left from the Franklin House. Neal Moore & Company were the proprietors of the stage line. In 1848 the Ohio State Com- pany competed with this line. In 1850 a second stage to Warren was started and a stage to Massillon and Akron was added.

In 1828 an article on "Summer Traveling" appeared in the Ohio Journal. It describes a journey from Cincinnati to New York, to which "region the great mass of summer traveling from the south, and from the Mississippi valley trends." The following paragraphs show the condition of travel through Ohio: "From Cincinnati, the great point of landing for steamboat passengers from the lower Ohio and Mississippi, there are two or three variant routes across the state of Ohio. The most direct, is a stage route from Cincinnati via Reading, Lebanon, Waynesville, Xenia, Yellow Springs, Springfield, Urbana, Upper Sandusky, Oakley and Lower Sandusky, to Sandusky City, two hundred and thirteen miles. By leaving this route at Springfield and going eastwardly to Columbus, the state capital, and from thence northwardly through Sunbury, Mt. Vernon, New Haven, Norwalk and Milan, you arrive at Sandusky City aforesaid, in a distance of two hundred and forty-five miles. By branching off from the last mentioned route at Mt. Vernon and passing through Loudonville, Wooster and Medina, you arrive at Cleveland on the southern shore of Lake Erie, sixty miles east from the port of Sandusky, and at the commencement of the Ohio Grand Canal.

* "Register," January 18, 1820.

13 "Herald," Aug. 21, 1839.

688

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

Distance from Cincinnati, two hundred and fifty-five miles. Or you may take a canal boat and sail up the Miami canal, past the towns of Hamilton, Frank- lin, Miamisburg and Alexandersville, to Dayton, sixty-seven miles, then take a stage to Springfield, twenty-five miles, and from thence any one of the three routes before mentioned.

"From Sandusky City, the principal place of embarkation on Lake Erie, you take a steamboat and sail along near the United States side of the lake at from three to ten miles distant from the shore, past Huron and Rocky rivers, Cleve- land, Chagrin, Grand River, Ashtabula, Erie in Pennsylvania, Portland and Dunkirk, in New York, to Buffalo, two hundred and fifty miles."14

Sandusky was Cleveland's active rival in those years. Cleveland is not mentioned with enthusiasm in the periodicals of that date, but from the time the canal brought prosperity, and fine homes and gardens surrounded the Square and lined St. Clair and Lake streets, writers and travelers always spoke of the beauty of our town.

The Franklin House was the stopping place for most of the coach lines. A few stopped at the Mansion House, kept by Noble Merwin. The great Penn- sylvania freight wagons made Spangler's Tavern, on the north side of Superior street, west of the Square, their headquarters. These Pennsylvania wagons were "covered with painted canvas and carrying many tons of nails and iron from beyond the Allegheny Mountains, each drawn by six or eight enormous horses- with big bear skin covers on the collars, and many bells on their saddles-and driven by a single rein from the leader to the teamster, seated on the nigh wheel- horse. The horses were unharnessed in the street before some teamster hotel, and baited from the mangers hanging from the hulks of the old arks. They remained camping on the spot all night. * * These great wagons were as strong as ships and carried five to ten tons of goods, and on a mountain road, coming down grades, were as terrible as an avalanche to the small craft that dis- puted the right of way."15

Mayor Case made the journey by stage to Pittsburg in 1850 and wrote: "We had a very tedious journey in a coach. The roads were dry and dusty. Huge gray clouds of dust would sift through the door and windows of the carriage, completely covering us in a mantle." The mayor was elated over the prospects of Cleveland, for he says in the same letter that they "are now brighter than at any former period. Real estate has arisen in value this last year twenty per cent ; outlying lots, fifty to one hundred per cent. People abroad begin to look more to us. Two railroads are now completed and three plank roads are in operation." 16

The canal did not replace the stage excepting along limited lines of travel. The railway, however, changed the map of the country by shifting the lines of commerce and centering the traffic in the large cities. Along the state roads and turnpikes the avoided stage towns began to decay, the taverns fell into slovenly ways and the rickety coaches were sent to spend their last weary days, creak-

14 Quoted from "Civil Engineer and Herald of Internal Improvement," July 19, 1828.

15 Judge James D. Cleveland in "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. 3, p. 702.

14 Letter quoted in the "Plain Dealer," July 8, 1909.

689

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

ing with age and rheumatic from exposure, on the tiny mail routes between the fortunate railroad towns and remote and unknown hamlets.

There has been a great revival in road building in recent years. Now, how- ever, the county provides the means and the county commissioners supervise the work. A tax levied upon the county, a special assessment upon adjoining owners, and bond issues to the amount of one per cent of the county's tax dupli- cate, are the sources of revenue for improving roads. Over three million dollars worth of bonds have been issued by Cuyahoga county for this purpose. Over two hundred miles of country road have been paved and nearly that many more are now being paved, or plans are made for their paving.

The first of these pavements were macadam. They have yielded to brick laid on a concrete base. These roads are usually thirty feet between ditches, the paved portion measuring fourteen feet, leaving an earth road about twelve feet wide.

Over these well built roads the truck farmer brings his produce to market, and the automobiles glide with taunting ease and speed, typical of the progress man has made in material things since the days of the ox cart and the impossible mud highway.

CHAPTER LXXI.

THE CANAL .:

It seems almost ridiculous that the crooked, muddy, little Cuyahoga, forcing its sluggish channel over a sand bar into the lake could have been regarded as com- mercially important by the early geographers and statesmen. Benjamin Frank- lin, in 1765, pointed out its importance as a military station; and Washington when he urged upon the Virginia house of representatives the building of a canal for connecting the Ohio and the Potomac, and later when he became presi- dent of a company organized to unite the Hudson with the Great Lakes, desig- nated our river as of strategic importance. Douglass, in 1749, and Pownall, in 1756, suggested its trade possibilities. * But they had all learned of the Indian, whose famous trail from the great bend in the Cuyahoga at Old Portage led to the head waters of the Tuscarawas, near the present town of Barberton, a portage of only seven miles that opened a navigable route between the waters of the Great Lakes and the Ohio and its tributaries, and the shortest route between Lake Erie and the Monongahela and Potomac. The town of Cleveland and the settlers of the Monogahela and Potomac. The town of Cleveland and the settlers of the Reserve did not benefit by this fortunate geographical situation until the rapidly increasing population of the central and southern part of the state was forced to find ampler and cheaper means of transporting the products of its fertile fields and multiplying factories to the eastern market. The rich central counties of the state had no egress to the world while to the north stretched the lake and to the south flowed the Ohio, both ample waterways to the great markets of the world. Thus began the agitation for canals. The words of Washington and of Franklin were

* Whittlesey's "Early History of Cleveland," pp. 461-3.

690

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

recalled, the fervid eloquence of Clay the champion of internal improvements, the popular political issue of the new state, and the splendid work of DeWitt Clinton, the builder of the Erie Canal, inspired the Ohioans to open the entire state to the traffic of the lake and the river.

Several private corporations attempted to secure franchises from the state prior to 1820, but the legislature refused to sanction their plans. The agitation begun by these private interests aroused the legislature, and in 1817, the year that work was begun on the Erie Canal, a resolution was introduced in the gen- eral assembly demanding the construction of canals by the state. In the state campaign of 1818 canals were an issue, and members of the new legislature were quite generally pledged to support internal improvements. Governor Brown in his inaugural address, December 14, 1818, made the first executive mention of the canals when he said: "It seems necessary to improve the internal communica- tions and open a cheaper way to market, for the surplus produce of a large por- tion of our fertile country." On January 7, 1819, on resolution of Representa- tive Sill of Ross county, a committee was appointed to investigate the feasibility of a canal from the lake and the Ohio river. A favorable report from this com- mittee led to no action however, and Governor Brown again urged the subject upon the legislature in his message of December 7, 1819. On the 14th of Jan- uary, 1820, at the behest of the legislature, Governor Brown submitted a de- tailed statement to the assembly, containing quite explicit calculations of cost and naming several possible routes, including "the famous portage between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga. Both these rivers it is believed may be made tribu- tary to a water communication over that portage which divides them." On the 23d of February, 1820, a joint committee of both houses reported a bill authoriz- ing the appointment of three commissioners "for locating a route for a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio river," and authorizing them to employ the necessary engineers. It was provided also that congress should be asked for aid, but no aid was ever tendered by the national authorities. In November, 1823, delegates from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio, met at Wash- ington to discuss the Potomac and Ohio canal project. About two hundred dele- gates attended, and a committee was appointed to investigate connecting "Cuya- hoga creek and other waters of Lake Erie" with the Pittsburg and Ohio canal.

Agitation continued, the advantages of the New York route over the New Orleans route were extolled and in 1821 a majority of "canal men" were elected to the assembly. A vigorous message from the Governor led to the appointment of a committee of five, on motion of M. P. Williams, of Hamilton county, to inves- tigate the feasibility of canals. This committee reported emphatically in favor of canals, and on January 31, 1822, a law was enacted, empowering the Governor to name an engineer and appointing the following gentlemen as the first canal com- missioners of the state: Benjamin Tappan, Alfred Kelley, Thomas Worthing- ton, Ethan 'A'. Brown, Jeremiah Morrow, Isaac Minor and Ebenezer Bucking- ham, Jr. These commissioners were commanded to have the necessary surveys and estimates made "from Sandusky Bay to the Ohio river; from the Maumee river to the Ohio river; from the lake to the river aforesaid by the sources of the Cuyahoga and Black rivers and the Muskingum river; and from the lake by the sources of the Grand and Mahoning rivers to the Ohio river."

ALFRED KELLEY, 1789-1859 "The Father of the Ohio Canal"

691

HISTORY OF CLEVELAND

The state was fortunate in securing Samuel Geddes, one of the engineers of the Erie Canal, for this service. Two years he devoted to the study and pre- liminary surveys of the possible routes. The principal problem was to secure an ample water supply over the Erie water shed. On January 3, 1823, the com- missioners made their first report. The important question of which route to follow was fully discussed. The engineering difficulties to be encountered in the Cuyahoga valley and the mills already built at its falls (in the thriving town of Cuyahoga Falls), rather inclined the engineer to favor the Black river. But there was not enough water. The report says: "It will be seen that a canal led through either the valley of the Mahoning, Tuscarawas or Killbuck must depend for a necessary supply of water, at their respective summit levels on the Cuyahoga river, and it is the opinion of the engineers that the river is no more than suf- ficient to supply one canal." The engineer in his report thought that the Cuyahoga route would ruin many mills that had been erected at its falls. On the other hand the Black river route he said offered no suitable site for a city at the mouth of the river.

Jeremiah Morrow, having been elected Governor, the legislature elected Mi- cajah P. Williams as commissioner in his stead, in January, 1823, and the com- missioners were authorized to appoint two of their number as "Acting Com- missioners" to have the actual charge of the work. The commissioners served without pay, but the acting commissioners were allowed two dollars per day. Alfred Kelley, of Cleveland, and M. P. Williams, of Hamilton county, were ap- pointed acting commissioners, and the promptness and thoroughness of the work done, indicated the wisdom of this selection. Mr. Kelley was sent to New York to investigate the Erie Canal and hire several engineers. In its second report, January 21, 1824, the commission discussed the various routes in great detail. It was still an open question whether the Cuyahoga or Black river valley should be followed from the water shed to the lake. The state had not yet decided to build a canal and the report includes a number of arguments setting forth the advantages of canals. Among these is the statement that New York salt from Onondaga, could be delivered on the shores of Lake Erie for thirty cents per bushel, and by canal for thirty-seven and a half cents throughout the state. A number of letters addressed to the commission from prominent men were ap- pended to the report. One is from DeWitt Clinton, in his characteristic style : "The projected canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, will, in connection with the New York canals, form a navigable communication between the Bay of New York, the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of St. Lawrence; of course it will embrace within its influence the greater part of the United States and the Canadas. The advantages of a canal of this description are so obvious, so strik- ing, so numerous and so extensive, that it is a work of supererogation to bring them into view. The state of Ohio, from the fertility of its soil, the benignity of its climate, and its geographical position, must always contain a dense popu- lation, and the products and consumptions of its inhabitants, must forever form a lucrative and extensive inland trade, exciting the powers of productive in- dustry and communicating aliment and energy to external commerce. But when we consider that this canal will open a way to the great rivers that fall into the Mississippi, that it will be felt, not only in the immense valley of that river,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 87

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262