USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 89
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The canal was evidently not only a great boon to the farmers of the interior of the state, who received in exchange for their products, the merchandise, lumber, salt and fish they needed, but it served as an outlet for Kentucky whiskey. The pig iron secured came from the bog iron deposits in Summit county and to the immediate south.
The following table exhibits the traffic in tons from 1848 to 1860:
Year
Arrived Cleared Lbs. Lbs.
Year
Arrived Lbs.
Cleared Lbs.
1849
193,514
51,704
1855
309,696
42,607
1850
232,729
52,048
1856
286,517
42,414
.85
355,652
86,717
1857
214,975
33,679
1852
425,006
66,802
1858
154,329
34,430
1853
461,056
64,034
1859
118,016
38,22I
1854
320,947
54,773
1860
122,477
34,153
1840
10,783,514
26,44I
525,802
2,155,407
505,461
48,222
77,254
172,206
1841
15,164,747
39,200
961,161
1,564,42I
441,425
107,805
59,773
478,370
1842
10,019,803
58,608
1,311,185
1,311,665
492,7II
199,803
49,556
466,844
1843
13,250,758
22,810
1,649,835
813,536
577,369
391,138
44,310
387,834
1844
11,552,460
45,174
1,540,135
976,551
494,909
848,878
73,325
540,305
1833
9,896,440
28,447
49,13I
1834
10,127,613
36,803
95,634
1835
14,839,950
522,498
387,232
132,319
46,139
50,473
18.36
13,384,959
13,572
638,269
463,821
167,431
22,334
84,124
1837
10,757,386
56,077
1,527,610
549,14I
203,691
62,977
183,484
1838
18,875,286
46,767
1,157,109
1,229,012
287,465
63,465
73,292
1839
19,125,282
37,230
857,455
1,515,820
264,887
32,176
109,916
134,881
N Bbls. N. Y.
In 1850 the canal had reached its highest prosperity. The details of Cleve- land's traffic in this year are therefore of great interest, for they disclose the internal commerce of Cleveland. Railroads were not yet making inroads upon the freight traffic.
700
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
THE CANAL TRAFFIC OF 1850 AT CLEVELAND.
Articles
Arrived
Cleared
Articles
Arrived
Cleared
Barrels-
Pounds-
Beef
1,165
852
Iron
6,028,847
14,139,149
Fish
85
18,21I
Iron, cast
479,486
931,205
Flour
367,737
150
Lard
1,281,368
893
Pork
18,859
56
Lead (bars)
13,571
100
Salt
3
61,468
Leather (Ohio)
12,518
4,315
Whiskey
24,580
581
Leather, unfinished
278,152
643,716
Other goods
730
1,238
Machinery
472,208
330,027
Bushels-
Merchandise
1,268,444
9,711,472
Barley
74
35,958
Marble, unwrought
Corn
831,704
11,776
Marble, wrought
740
45,100
Coal
2,347,844
2,514
Molasses
163,274
842,719
Coke
16,314
Nails and spikes
4,343,220
605,457
Oats
9,677
Ore-iron
44,928
653,740
Clover seed
3,519
3,134
All others
1,717
II4
Pounds-
Pot and pearl ashes
212,494
313,393
Butter
1,339,73I
12,735
Saleratus (Ohio)
2,061
398,953
Furniture and baggage.
668,023
539,226
Sugar
195,922
833,598
Bacon and pork
2,284,116
2,040
Tobacco, raw
84,893
3,505
Cheese
476,052
85,126
Tobacco, m'f'd
22,710
I33,42I
Coffee
20,159
1,004,4II
2,038,195
4,15I
West India fruit
2,370
26,430
Clocks
64,006
White lead
102,362
12,749
Crockery
(foreign)
121,343
522,620
Sundries
6,018,366
7,723,59I
Eggs
362,903
1,349
Barrels, empty
1,189
19,530
Undried fruit
196,642
1,516
Brooms
10,568
971
Feathers
42,200
20
Hoop poles
10,500
3,800
Furs and pelts
161,354
1,618
Split and flat hoops.
10,400
1,947,548
Ginseng
4,861
Staves and heading
576,876
4,446,000
Grindstone
332,510
Feet-
Gypsum
3,275,562
Timber
III,834
9,190
Glass and glassware.
27,689
Lumber
712,163
7,960,018
Hide and skins
87,013
131,885
Perches-
Dressed and rough stone
4,877
26
Iron, pig or scrap.
7,003,438
1,314,984
Cords of wood
4,388
6
The general development of canal traffic and its decline is shown in the fol- lowing table giving the amount of tolls collected annually at Cleveland :
Year
Amount collected
Year
Amount collected
1836
$60,583.36
1857
24,617.47
1837
80,051.26
I860
16,156.94
1840
86,851.89
1845
62,284.97
1861-1878-Leased to private cor- poration
1850
90,874.20
1879
17,985.43
1851
73,324.17
1885
7,789.72
1852
61,098.64
1890
6,081.96
1853
59,010.28
1895
3,228.55
1854
45,450.26
1900
1,768.06
1855
43,210.10
1905
298.63
1856
34,702.79
1907
21.45
Paper (Ohio)
127,536
1,415
Powder (Ohio)
9,624
57
Burr stone
41,046
Starch (Ohio)
139,143
1,936
Broom corn
606,245
Tallow
298,128
167
Pottersware
1,787,814
13,104
Wheat
1,192,559
Wool
Cut stone
6,835
Number-
Dried fruit
390,890
Grease
307,457
Shingles
Hogs' hairs
18,752
1,653,758
The following table exhibits the business of the canal in 1900, and illustrates the use of these waterways under our system of railroad transportation :
1
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
701
Pounds-
Arrived
Cleared
Number --
Arrived
Cleared
Coal
.20,683,958
Brick
150,000
150,000
Merchandise
13,000
....
Ice
431,900
431,900
Shingles
77,000
Dynamite
2,753,280
2,753,280
Powder
5,000
Lumber
176,684
5,797,749
Sundries
55,000
Timber
2,580
Stone
605,000
605,000
Cords of wood .
743/4
In 1905 the traffic had dwindled to coal, hay, stone and lumber. Of coal 4,973,950 pounds; and of stone 2,308,050 pounds were carried. For 1905 and 1907 the income at Cleveland was as follows :
Year
Tolls $298.63
Water Leases $ 714.41
Pipe Permits $4,766.98 4,577.4I
Land Leases $ 421.33
Total
1905
$6,201.35
1907
21.45
1,527.01
2,147.13
8,273.00
The passenger traffic in the earlier years was considerable. By 1855 it had completely ceased. The following table shows the amount of passenger service at Cleveland :
Year
No. of
Arrived
Total No.
of Miles
Traveled
Average
Length of
2. Journey
Year
No. of
Arrived
Total No.
of Miles
Traveled
Length of
: Journey
1840
. 18,921
1,211,047
63.5 miles
1848
11,106
620,374 560,097
50.4 miles
1841
. 19,492
1,367,592
70.6 miles
1849 1850
9,943
452,973
49.5 miles
1842
. 19,584
1,400,988
71.5 miles
1843
. 14,414
1,000,09I
69.4 miles
1851
5,387
225,687
42.0 miles
1844
. 17,533
1,152,426
60.0 miles
I845
12,782
892,50I
69.7 miles
1846
. 11,102
640,462
50.5 miles
CANAL TOLLS.
In reply to a legislative inquiry regarding canal tolls and discriminations, the canal commissioners said: "From the first opening of the Ohio canal, it has been the policy of the board to so encourage the tolls as to hold out inducements for the shipment of merchandise through this route. To induce the shipping of sugar and molasses from the south through this channel for the northern trade, a very important discrimination was early made." 14
The table of rates was changed from year to year. In 1842 the following rates were maintained :
Each mile not over 100
Each mile Each mile over 100 over 200
Each mile under 50
Each mile over 50
Article
Article
Cent.
Mills. Cent.
Mille.
1,000 lbs. flour 0
9
6
1,000 lbs. salt
O
5
0 21/2
.
1,000 shingles 0
21/2 0 I
1,000 lbs. coal
.0
21/2
I
1,000 lbs. iron ore . . .
.. 0 21/2 0
I
1,000 lbs. iron casting, leather and mfg.
goods
I
5 I 0
1,000 lbs. raw cotton
and tobacco 2
O
I
0
.
1,000 lbs. wood ashes, lime, clay .0
4
0
2
.
.
1,000 lbs. merchandise .2 4
I 8
I
2
o Cent.
A Mills.
1,000 ft. boards, scant- lings, etc. I
2 0 6
1,000 lbs. N. Y. salt. .. . I
0
0 5.
1,000 lbs. corn, hay, etc. o 6
0 4
1,000 brick I
0 each mile.
Each perch of dressed stone, 0.5 each mile. Each boat, 4c a mile toll.
Each passenger, 3c per mile.
14 Report, 1845, Document No. 35.
1852 No report. 1856 None.
507,400
Average
47.1 miles
1839
. 19,962
1,397,3II
69.9 miles
1847
13,149
10,949
46.3 miles
Cent.
0 · · · · · · Cent.
. .
Lath
173,750
Feet-
Passengers
Passengers
702
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
CHAPTER LXXII.
THE LAKE TRAFFIC.
Our lake has been our greatest boon to climate, to commerce and to manu- facture. The first white men to visit the site of the city came here by boat. For centuries the deep embayment into which the Cuyahoga empties, was the rendezvous of the Indians' canoes, and after the town had been founded and the wilderness began to recede before the settlers' advance, the lake remained the most important highway between the east and the new west. The develop- ment of steam navigation brought an enormous growth to the traffic both in passenger and freight service, and finally, when the vast deposits of iron ore were discovered in northern Michigan and Minnesota, lake commerce vied with that of the ocean in magnitude and industrial importance.
The "Casket," of 1833, predicts our city's greatness because of its strategic location. "Few places in the western country are so advantageously situated for commerce, or boast greater population and business. Here is the northern termination of the Ohio canal, three hundred and nine miles in length, by which the village will communicate with Columbus and Cincinnati, with Pittsburg, St. Louis and New Orleans. * * * An inspection of the maps will show that Cleveland has a position of extraordinary advantage and it only requires a moderate capital and the usual enterprise of American character to advance its destiny to an equality with the most flourishing cities of the west. Two years ago it had one thousand inhabitants. It has now two thousand, and is rapidly increasing. The vicinity is a healthy, fertile country, as yet mostly new, but fast filling up. An artificial harbor, safe and commodious, constructed by the United States, often presents twenty or thirty sloops, schooners and steamboats."
The first ship to sail Lake Erie was the "Griffin," built by the intrepid La Salle, near the mouth of Cayuga creek, New York, in the winter of 1678-79. She was sixty tons burden (some say forty-five tons), fully rigged, with an emblematic griffin at her bow to protect her from fire, and a vigilant eagle on her high cabin. She set sail in the spring of 1679 and probably followed the northern shore of the lake, thus passing beyond the view of the Cuyahoga. She sailed to Green Bay and started from there on her return voyage, September 12, 1679, laden with a precious cargo of furs. Neither her griffin nor her eagle could preserve her from the evil fate which has shrouded her destiny in mys- tery, for she was never heard from after her departure southward.
The earliest traffic on the lakes was carried on by batteaux, long boats, well built, following the shores, carrying cargoes of several tons that weathered the gales and squalls of the lake quite as well as the sail craft that followed them. A considerable traffic had developed between 1780 and 1794 with the traders in these regions. Presque Isle (Erie) was the principal port on the southern shore. Cleveland was a trans-shipment station in the route from Pittsburg, and when in 1794 General Wayne needed supplies on the Maumee, they were sent by way of the Cuyahoga and Lake Erie. "The old Indian highway from Beaver to this place became a notable thoroughfare along which ninety horses and thirty men were continually passing. From this place goods and provisions
S. W. Johnson
John Martin
Thomas Quayle
Alva Bradley
Thomas Wilson
Selah Chamberlain
PIONEER VESSEL MEN AND SHIPBUILDERS
703
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
were taken, sometimes in vessels or in batteaux to the Maumee or Detroit, and sometimes through by land on horses." 1
In 1796 when Moses Cleaveland skirted our southern shore, he found Presq' Isle (Erie), the leading port, and several small schooners and sloops were then on the lake. 'Arriving at the Cuyahoga, he no doubt had the batteaux traffic on the river and the large lake craft in mind when he provided an "upper landing" for the former, and a "lower landing" for the latter. Schenectady bat- teaux were used by the surveying party. "At the time of their arrival at Cleve- land there were two small schooners (it is just possible that there may have been one or two others, but of such we are not advised), called the 'Mackinaw' and 'Beaver' and belonging to Detroit." * It is not known what schooner first entered our port. But it is certain that the sand bar at the mouth of the river was an effective barrier against the entering of the river by craft of large draught. Boats were compelled to anchor outside and were unloaded by lighters. "In 1800 or 1801, a vessel landed one hundred barrels of salt on the beach, which was carried off on horses or carried up the beach. * * The general landing was near the foot of Superior lane. Vessels could seldom get into the river. They anchored off and had lighters. When they came in, they landed at the foot of Superior lane." 2
In 1805 the mouth of the river was made a port of entry and a collection district called "The District of Erie," embracing the south shore. John Wal- worth was the first collector. In 1807 the legislature gave permission to raise twelve thousand dollars by means of a lottery, the money to be used in clearing the channels of the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers and widening the portage path into a wagon trail. Although some tickets were sold, the drawing never took place.
SAILING VESSELS.
In 1808 Alonzo Carter, the most useful of the pioneers, built the schooner "Zephyr," the first vessel built in Cleveland. She was of thirty tons burden, was built "up on the hill" and hauled down to the water by oxen.3 Captain Cummings commanded the little schooner and for several years she did a brisk trade in taking Cuyahoga's furs, grindstones and produce to exchange for salt, merchandise, iron, groceries and other necessities. She was destroyed by fire near Black Rock, New York.
In 1809 Joel Thorp built a small schooner the "Sally," five or six tons and Alexander Simpson built the "Dove," about the same size. In 1810 the "Ohio," sixty tons, was built by Murray and Bigsbey. Captain John Austin commanded her. In 1812 she was sold to the federal government and became a gunboat in Perry's squadron, commanded by Captain Dobbins. She did not take part in the battle of Lake Erie. She was captured in 1814 at Fort Erie. In 1812 the schooner "Sally," twenty-five tons, was built here, Captain Abijah Baker in
1 Whittlesey "Early History," pages 462-3.
* "National Magazine," December, 1845.
2 Statement of Alonzo Carter, Whittlesey's "Early History," pp. 396-7.
3 Some authorities say the boat was forty-five tons burden.
704
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
command. In 1813 Levi Johnson built the "Pilot," thirty-five tons. The boat was built where Euclid avenue and Sheriff street now meet. Twenty-eight yoke of oxen hauled the hull to the river. Captain John Austen sailed her. In 1813 the "Lady of the Lake," thirty tons, was built by Gaylord and sailed by Captain Stone. In 1815 Levi Johnson built the schooner "Neptune," sixty-five tons. She was launched in the spring of 1816 and was afterward in the employ of the American Fur Company. In 1821 Philo Taylor built the "Prudence." In March, 1822, Noble H. Merwin launched the schooner "Minerva," forty-four tons, at the foot of Superior street. Her chains were forged in a Cleveland blacksmith shop and tested by twelve yoke of oxen. The "Minerva" was the first vessel registered in Washington from the district of the Cuyahoga, under the new revenue laws. She was built at the corner of Superior and Merwin streets. In 1826 John Blair built the "Macedonia," sixty tons, and the "Lake Serpent," forty tons, and the schooner "Comet," fifty tons.4
In 1841 there were nineteen sailing vessels built on Lake Erie. Of these only two were built in Cleveland. In the spring of 1842 of eleven sail vessels build- ing on the lake only two were built here. In 1841 about two hundred and fifty sailing vessels were in the Lake Erie fleet. They varied from fifty to three hundred and fifty tons and cost about one million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and their earnings were seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.5 Their cost was about fifty dollars a ton, three-fifths of this for the hull, and two-fifths for the equipment. The crew usually consisted of a captain, a mate, five hands and the cook. A two hundred ton boat could store six thousand bushels of wheat, or two thousand bushels of wheat and two thousand barrels of flour.
The development of these sailing vessels can be traced from 1812, when ship carpenters were brought to the lakes to build vessels for the war fleets. They naturally followed the coast models, these were later modified to meet the lake traffic requirements. This evolution through schooner and brig was completed when the clipper schooner "Challenge" was launched at Manitowoc, Wiscon- sin, in 1851. This new model was eighty feet long, twenty-two feet wide, six and a half feet deep, had longer and sharper bows, a lighter draught and a greater proportionate breadth than her predecessors. She paid for herself in two years, a feat that insured the popularity of the clipper model. This boat combined great length and fullness of body and almost straight sides, with the broadest portion well forward, a square broad stem and a well pointed bow. There were usually three masts, varying in length, at least one large lower yard on the fore mast. The spread of canvas was enormous, and a clipper with all her sails spread was a magnificent sight. About 1870 a few four masted schooners were built for the grain trade and by 1880 there were at least nine five masters, the "David Dows" of Toledo, of two thousand, five hundred tons burden. 6
White oak was the favorite material used in building these schooners, the decking, house and spars were of white pine. With the depletion of the
4 There seems to be some doubt as to the date of the building of the "Macedonia." Some authorities say she was built in 1823 by Merwin.
5 "Herald," Vol. 27, No. 33.
6 United States Census, 1880, Vol. 8.
STEAMBOAT WALK-IN-THE-WATER The first steamboat on Lake Erie. Built, 1818 Wrecked, 1821.
PASSENGER STEAMBOAT EMPIRE
Built at Cleveland, 1844. At that time the largest steam- boat in the United States, 260 feet long, 1200 tons.
STEAMBOAT NORTH STAR Built in Cleveland, 1854. Burned at Cleveland, 1862. Tonnage, 1,106 tons. Speed sixteen miles per hour.
PROPELLOR IRONSIDES Built at Cleveland, 1864, Wrecked at Grand Haven, 1873, twenty-four lives lost. 231 feet long, 1.123 tons burden. From "History of the Great Lakes"
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
705 .
forests came the decline in the sail craft, and today there are only a few left, relics of the time when the harbor teemed with a forest of masts and the blue lake was dotted with their white spread canvas. Among the last of the older sail craft was the "Southwest" owned by Captain Bradley of Cleveland. The traffic of these sailing vessels consisted almost entirely in an exchange of the raw materials of the lake region, for the manufactured products of the east. Whiskey, corn, furs, fish, lumber, grindstones, hogs, and later flour, were thus exchanged for machinery, groceries, and merchandise. A typical cargo is thus described : "The schooner 'Detroit' cleared from Cuyahoga in 1830 with a full load, consist- ing of ninety-one barrels of flour, one hundred and one barrels of whiskey, sixty- three barrels of pork, fifty-one barrels of dried fruits, twenty-four barrels of cider and sixteen barrels of beef."7 The freight rates from Buffalo to Cleveland in sailing vessels in 1837 were thirty-four cents to forty-six cents the hundred pounds. In 1804 the freight from Buffalo to Cleveland was three dollars the barrel. In 1819 it was a dollar a barrel and the passage on sailboats, ten dollars.
STEAM SHIPS.
A revolution in lake traffic was wrought by the steamboat. In 1807 Fulton's "Clermont" made her trial trip on the Hudson. In 1809 the first steamboat sailed on the St. Lawrence, in 1811 the first one on the Mississippi, and in 1816 "The Ontario" was built at Sacketts Harbor, the first steamboat on the Great Lakes. Two years later the "Walk in the Water" was built at Black Rock near Buffalo, the first steamboat on Lake Erie. She was of three hundred and forty- two tons burden. Eber D. Howe, one of her first passengers, describes her launching. "In August, 1818, I was present at Black Rock and saw the first steamboat launched that entered the waters of Lake Erie. It was called 'Walk in the Water' and was a memorable event of that day. At this time there was no harbor at Buffalo of sufficient depth of water for a craft of that size, and owing to the crude manner of constructing engines at that time, she had very great diffi- culty in getting up the river into the lakes, consequently she was obliged to wait for a 'horn breeze,' as the sailors term it, and hitch on five or ten pair of oxen by means of a long rope or cable and together with all the steam that could be raised, she was enabled to make the ascent. Sometimes the cable would break and the craft float back to the place from whence she started." 8 The same writer continues to describe his first voyage to Cleveland and the perilous position of this pioneer steamboat as she rode our shallow harbor in a gale.
The "Cleveland Gazette" of September 1, 1818, has this to say of the first arrival of a steamboat in Cleveland. "The elegant steamboat 'Walk in the Water,' Captain Fish, from Buffalo, arrived in this place on Tuesday last on her way to Detroit. On her arrival she was greeted with a salute of several rounds of ar- tillery from the point. She was visited by a number of gentlemen and ladies from the village, who were treated with the greatest attention and politeness by the officers and crew. She is calculated to carry three hundred tons and to accommo- date about one hundred passengers in the cabin, exclusive of steerage and fore-
7 "History of the Great Lakes," p. 182.
8 "Autobiography and Recollection of a Pioncer Printer," Eber D. Howe, p. 20.
706
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
castle, for the accommodation of families. After remaining off the mouth of the river for a short time she proceeded on her way to Detroit.
"The 'Walk in the Water' will run, propelled by steam alone, from eight to ten miles an hour. She is schooner rigged and in a gale will possibly work as well as any vessel on the lake." 9
The run from Cleveland to Buffalo was made in forty-four hours and ten minutes. The first trip in 1820 was made on May 7th, and the two hundred miles from Buffalo to Cleveland were made in twenty-nine hours.10 In March, 1821, she was wrecked at the mouth of Buffalo creek near the lighthouse. A gale drove her on the sandy beach and a line passed to the shore served to ferry all the eighteen passengers and the entire crew to safety. The loss to her owners was about twelve thousand dollars.
The second steamer on Lake Erie was the "Superior," launched April 13, 1822, at Buffalo. The engine of the wreck "Walk-in-the-Water" was placed in her hull. In order to get her into the lake it was necessary to deepen the channel at Buffalo creek. Captain Jedediah Rogers commanded her and for some years she was the only steamboat on the lake. She was built by a company that had been granted the exclusive privilege to navigate the navigable waters of New York. a monopoly promptly stopped by the Federal Supreme Court. In 1831 the "Su- perior" was sent over Niagara falls as a spectacle. The old boat, however, stranded on Goat island.
At this time began the enormous expansion of lake traffic. Sidewheel steamers multiplied. In 1826 the completion of the Erie canal added a great stimulus to traffic, as did also the opening of the Welland canal in 1829. A vast stream of emigrants poured into the lake region and the Mississippi valley through the lake ports. The rapid growth of population stimulated commerce. In 1820 there were four steamers on the lake. In 1830 eight more had been added and by 1839 there were over thirty. In 1850 the sidewheel steamer was at its height of popularity. There were sixteen steamers running from Buffalo to Chicago.
The earliest steamers were built with shallow draft, huge sidewheels, some- what pointed bows and had at least one mast. The Welland canal modified this type. Vessels intended for canal passage were built with bluff sides and dull bows. The tonnage of the first boats ranged around two hundred tons.
The first steamship built in Cleveland was of this type. It was the "Enter- prise," built by Levi Johnson and the Turhooven Brothers in 1824. She was of two hundred and nineteen tons, engine about seventy horse power. She ran be- tween Buffalo and Detroit and was commanded by Captain Johnson. In 1828 she was sold and Captain Johnson retired from active service. The first steamboat named after the city was the "Cleveland," built in 1837, at Huron, Ohio, for pas- senger service only. This boat was one hundred and thirty-nine feet long, twenty- nine feet broad, of five hundred and seventy-five tons burden, and cost eighty-five thousand dollars. The boat was provided with a gentlemen's cabin with one hun- dred and twenty berths, and a ladies' cabin with twelve berths, as well as ten state- rooms of three berths each. Her engines were low pressure. This boat is en-
9 "The History of the Great Lakes," p. 299, gives July 31, 1818, as the date when the "Walk in the Water" first entered Cleveland's harbor. The date was August 25.
10 "Herald," Vol. I, No. 30.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
titled to special notice because she carried the first steam whistle used on the lakes. Prior to this time bells and guns were used for signals. Captain Asa E. Hart commanded the "Cleveland."
The era of larger sidewheel steamers began with the building of the "Empire" in Cleveland in 1844, the "finest ship on the lakes and the pride of our citizens." She was too large for the Welland canal and intended only for Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. The "Empire" was of one thousand, one hundred and thirty-six tons burden, the first steamboat in the United States over a thousand tons and two hundred tons larger than any other steamship in the world. 11 Her keel was two hundred and fifty-four feet, her deck two hundred and sixty-five feet long. The dining cabin on the upper deck was two hundred and thirty feet long, with the staterooms arranged on either side and the ladies' cabin at one end. The engines were five hundred horse power and her huge sidewheels were thirty feet in diameter. The "Empire" was also the first boat on the lake to have fire engines on board. In 1846 new engines were installed, one thousand, four hun- dred horse power, with the highest pressure cylinder then in use. Her model was new and chaste. Instead of a bluff bow and square stern of the earlier type, the bow and stern were gracefully pointed. She was the fastest boat on the lakes, sailing from Detroit to Buffalo in twenty hours and twenty-five minutes and from Cleveland to Buffalo in twelve hours and forty-four minutes. She was built by G. W. Jones for D. N. Barney & Company of Cleveland and was com- manded by Captain O. Howe. Subsequently she was transformed into a pro- peller.
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