USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 90
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The sidewheelers increased in size until in 1854 the "Plymouth Rock" of Buf- falo registered one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-one tons, and her sister ship "The City of Buffalo," built in 1857, registered two thousand, and twenty-six tons. In 1859 the "Western World," two thousand and two tons, was launched. These fine ships marked the culmination of the sidewheel type. By 1863 they were dismantled and made into propellers for the grain traffic. The railroads had robbed them of their passenger traffic.
These sidewheel passenger steamers were graceful boats, with great speed, handsome cabins, provided splendid meals, often had a band of music on board and were usually crowded with passengers, four or five hundred not being an uncommon number. They were built of oak throughout, except the decks and spars, which were of white pine, well "salted." In 1859 there were on the lakes ten of these steamers over one thousand tons each, twenty-one over four hundred tons, fifty-eight over two hundred tons, seventy over one hundred tons, sixty-three over twenty tons and sixty-one under twenty tons. There were over three hun- dred sidewheelers built on the lakes during this period.
The fare on the "Walk in the Water" from Buffalo to Detroit was eighteen dollars. Previously the sailboats occupying about thirteen days for the trip, charged thirteen dollars. In 1820 the fare from Buffalo to Cleveland was ten dollars. In 1836 the cabin fare from Buffalo to Cleveland was five dollars, steerage two dollars and fifty cents; in 1847, cabin three dollars, steerage one dollar and fifty cents.
11 "History of the Great Lakes."
708
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
Rates to Detroit, Chicago and Mackinaw were in proportion. Freight rates in 1837 from Buffalo to Cleveland by steamer for "heavy" goods, forty-four cents the one hundred pounds and for "light" goods, sixty cents. In 1839 from Buffalo to Cleveland, twenty-seven and forty cents. In 1841 to transport a horse from Buffalo to Cleveland cost five dollars; heavy freight, twenty-seven cents the hundredweight ; light freight, forty cents and barrel bulk, fifty cents the hundred- weight. In 1843 the freight on wheat from Cleveland to Buffalo was four to five cents the bushel; flour, sixteen to eighteen cents the hundred pounds ; pork, twenty-five to twenty-eight cents the barrel.
It is difficult to obtain accurate information as to the amount of tonnage and number of passengers that arrived and cleared from Cleveland in those years. While in the earliest period of steam navigation the principal lines ran between Buffalo and Detroit and later Chicago, Cleveland was always an important port. Most of the passenger steamers stopped here and a number of liners ran from here to other lake ports. In 1822 the "Superior" left Buffalo every Tuesday and Detroit every Friday, stopping at Erie, Grand River, Cleveland and Sandusky. In 1826 the "Superior," "Henry Clay," three hundred and forty-eight tons, and "Enterprise" plied the same route. In the following year the "William Penn" and the "Niagara" were added to the fleet, and in 1831 the "Ohio," one hundred and eighty-seven tons. In 1833 the "Uncle Sam," two hundred and eighty tons, from Sandusky. In 1833 the "Herald" records that up to July Ist of that year, two hundred and thirty ships had arrived in the harbor, that the docks were "thronged with passengers," that there was a great amount of freight handled and that the canal was in a prosperous condition.12 Over one hundred buildings had been built in the town the previous year as the result of this commercial pros- perity. In the week of July 20, 1833, fifty-two vessels arrived here, heavily loaded, twenty-four had come via Welland canal, and eleven from Canadian ports on Lake Erie.13 In 1834 the "Herald" says with pride that often fourteen steam- boats arrived in forty-eight hours, crowded with passengers.14 In 1837 the steam- boat "Bunker Hill" from Black River, Ohio, built largely for freight, was one of the largest on the lake, capacity, four hundred and fifty-seven tons, three thou- sand barrels in bulk. She plied between Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Chicago. Other steamboats between Cleveland and Chicago in 1837 were the "Pennsyl- vai.ia," three hundred and ninety-five tons, the "Constellation," four hundred and eighty-three tons, and the "Constitution," four hundred and forty-nine tons, all new boats. In 1836 the "DeWitt Clinton," four hundred and ninety-three tons, built at Huron, was added to the Cleveland fleet. She was sunk at Dunkirk, 1851. In 1838 the "Great Western," seven hundred and eighty tons, was Built at Huron, Ohio, the largest steamer of that year. She was burned at her wharf in Detroit, September 1, 1839.
The city directory of 1837 states that in 1836 there entered the port nine hun- dred and eleven vessels and nine hundred and ninety steamboats, aggregating four hundred and one thousand, eight hundred tons. One hundred and eight were foreign vessels; the same number cleared the harbor. The following com-
12 "Herald," No. 709.
13 "Herald," No. 711.
14 "Herald," No. 770.
1
709
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
prise the greater part of the fleet, stopping regularly at Cleveland, for both freight and passengers in 1836-7; the steamboats "Cleveland;" "Robert Fulton," three hundred and sixty-eight tons, built in Cleveland in 1835 and wrecked at Sturgeon Point in 1844; "DeWitt Clinton," "Erie," four hundred and ninety-seven tons, built at Erie in 1837, burned in 1841, two hundred and fifty lives lost; "United States," three hundred and sixty-six tons; "New York," three hundred and twen- ty-five tons ; "Charles Townsend," three hundred and twelve tons; "Representa- tive," North American," three hundred and sixty-two tons; "O. Newbury," one hundred and seventy tons; "Eclipse," two hundred and thirty tons; "S. Thomp- son," two hundred and forty-one tons.
The following table, taken from the "National Magazine" December, 1845, shows number of boats belonging to Cleveland port, and the number of arrivals and clearances.
Steamboats
Schooners
12
. .
355
350
1838.
II
48
2
1054
1050
1832
I
14
21
. .
794
790
1840.
7
49
54
4
1369
1366
1835.
3
27
5
I
838 878
870
1842
5
67
2
6
1418
1412
1836.
4
29
5
2
920
1843.
4
74
3
5
1382
1433
1837
7
31
6
2
950
921 951
1844
3
81
2
12
1561
1567
.
Steamboats
Schooners
Brigs
Arrival of
Vessels exclusive
of Steamboats
Departure of
Vessels exclusive of Steamboats
Years
Brigs
Arrival of
Vessels exclusive
of Steamboats
Departure of
Vesseis exclusive
of Steamboats
Years
1839.
II
50
3 3 2 NWww Sloops 3
2 I349
1344
1834.
I
22
4
. .
497
498
2 1024
1029
1833
I
4 2 5 A UT A N Sloops
1831
I
One of the finest Cleveland boats was the "North Star," one thousand and six tons, built in Cleveland in 1854 and burned in Cleveland February 2, 1862. She was one of the first boats to pass through the Sault canal, June, 1855.
Many of these sidewheelers were hastily built, without proper precaution against the severe gales that come with sudden fervor over the lakes, without pro- tection against fire that their wooden hulls and cabins and loads of cordwood for fuel constantly invited, with flimsily constructed boilers unguarded against over- heating. A' train of horrible disasters followed in the wake of early steamboat navigation on the lakes. These catastrophies culminated for Cleveland in the burning of the "Griffith," about twenty miles east of the Cuyahoga June 17, 1850, with a loss of two hundred and eighty-six lives out of two hundred and fifty-six steerage passengers, forty-five cabin passengers and a crew of twenty- five. The steamer was about two miles from shore when the fire was discovered and might have reached the beach in safety. But she stranded on a sand bar a half mile from shore, the passengers became panic stricken at the rapid spread of the flames and hurled themselves into the water. When the horrible details of this disaster reached Cleveland a public meeting was called in Empire Hall and an agitation started for adequate inspection laws that resulted finally in precautionary legislation enacted by congress. It was estimated that from 1840-50 one thousand lives had been lost by explosions and fire on lake steamers.
The state of the rules of navigation was far from stable in those years. There was much rowdyism among the navigators and sailors. The demand for seamen had increased much more rapidly than the supply, with the result that many unfit men became masters and mates. In February, 1848, at Buffalo, a meeting of
835
1841
7
710
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
masters and vessel owners was held to consider ways for lessening collisions by uniting on a plan of signals and lights. They agreed upon a series of such sig- nals and also
"Resolved: That so long as a master of a boat at the slightest appearance of rough weather shall be obliged to retreat to a room with a basin and nurse, no light or system of lighting boats or vessels can effectually prevent collisions.
"Resolved, That as no man goes to the blacksmith to get his shoes mended, or to the shoemaker for his coat, so none but an experienced seaman can be a safe or trustworthy vessel captain and the best light we can recommend for such as have not the requisite experience is the light to the thorough knowledge that the business will give.
"Resolved, That we recommend to owners of steamboats, propellers and sail craft as one of the most effectual methods of avoiding collisions, to appoint none to the command except such as have had an opportunity of acquiring at least the rudiments of seamanship." 15
The series of disasters, the agitation of citizens and seamen, finally brought action from congress and navigation laws were passed August II, 1859, providing for the inspection of hulls and boilers, and other precautionary measures.
In 1847 the first great convention in behalf of river and harbor improvements was called in Chicago. It was instigated by the veto of the river and harbor bill of 1846, by President Polk, a bill that appropriated five hundred and twenty- four thousand dollars for this cause, including twenty thousand dollars for the Cleveland harbor. The lake region in its indignation called the convention, which convened July 5, 1847, with two thousand, three hundred and fifteen delegates from nineteen states, including Thomas Corwin of Ohio, and a Cleveland dele- gation headed by Hon. John W. Allen. The convention stimulated the cause of lake and river navigation.
Among its distinguished delegates was Thurlow Weed, the potent politi- cian and gifted editor of the Albany "Evening Journal." For this paper he wrote a series of charming letters, describing his journey from Albany to Chicago and giving a realistic picture of lake travel in those years. At Buffalo he took the Cleveland built steamer "Empire." "I am afloat for the first time on Lake Erie in the magnificent steamer 'The Empire,' Captain Randall, who had steam up and was waiting the arrival of the cars. In ascending to her beautiful saloon, we found some three hundred ladies and gentlemen grouped around upon sofas, divans, etc., as luxuriously as on board of our own splendid 'Isaac New- ton' and 'Hendrik Hudson' * * *
"July I. We had a delightful night and at sunrise were a few miles above Conneaut, Ohio, gliding rapidly along, some six miles from the shore. At 8 o'clock nearly three hundred passengers were seated in the Empire's spacious saloon to an ample and well served breakfast. During the forenoon the eye at a single glance took in a commercial fleet consisting of fifteen sails all from Cleveland and the neighboring ports and all heading for the Welland canal. We reached Cleveland at I o'clock, where we lay an hour, which hour we improved first by riding through its busy, bustling streets and then along one or two of its broad avenues, adorned with tasteful mansions, surrounded by a profusion of fruit trees, shrubbery and flowers. Cleveland at the outlet of the Ohio canal, is
16 "Herald," Vol. 31, No. 8.
Steamer Pasaic and Barges, Saginaw River. 1880
Steamer F. W. Fletcher, a lumber carrier
Type of package freight lake steamer
Type of lake freight steamer-the whaleback
711
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
fortunate in possessing a safe and 'snug' harbor. The fact that since the opening of navigation one million, three hundred thousand barrels of flour and one mil- lion, two hundred thousand bushels of wheat have been shipped at Cleveland, 'speaks for itself.'
"Hon. John W. Allen, a former representative in congress and one of the most useful, as well as one of the most deservedly esteemed citizens of Cleveland, with several other delegates from that town, joined us. Mr. Allen, after com- pleting his law studies at Oxford, Chenango county, came to Cleveland in 1825 in a schooner of less burden than an Erie canal boat, and landed in a yawl on the beach, there being neither harbor nor dock there"
"July 2. At 8:30 o'clock this morning we came alongside a dock upon the Canada shore, to wood. A hundred and six cords of wood (hickory, maple, beech and oak) were seized by the deck hands, steerage, passengers, etc., and transferred from the dock to the boat, and at 12 o'clock we were under way. I learn that 'The Empire' in a single trip, consumes over six hundred cords of wood. This requires for each trip the clearing up of over ten acres of well wooded land. The wood which was taken on board today cost one dollar per cord."
"July 3. We had another calm, beautiful night, and Lake Huron this morning is scarcely moved by a ripple. The evening was again passed in conversation and dancing. And here let me say a word about the mode of 'killing time.' I had heard much about the gambling on the lakes. But if this habit continues, 'The Empire's' passengers form an exception to the rule. The time so far has been most rationally appropriated. Many volumes of 'cheap literature' have been devoured. Lakes, harbors and river improvements have been freely discussed. But cards seem to have gone out of fashion."
"July 3. We reached Mackinaw at 12 m. *
* Having added some fifty cords to our supply of wood, and replenished our larders with an abundance of salmon, trout and whitefish, we are again under way."
"July 4. At I o'clock today our steamer bell was tolled for the purpose of assembling the passengers in the saloon for divine service. The services were impressive, the audience large and attentive * We have now been nearly four days 'at sea' and everything has gone just right. The steamer is well man- aged. Though nearly three hundred passengers draw around the table, the fare continues as abundant as it could be if Fulton Market was at hand every morning."
The return trip was made in the steamboat "St. Louis," chartered for the purpose. "The boat goes where the passengers direct and remains as long as they choose for two dollars a day, including board."
WOODEN PROPELLERS.
While the vast passenger traffic was shifting to the railroads and putting the graceful sidewheelers out of commission, the rapid industrial and agricultural development of the lake regions multiplied the freight traffic and increased the needs for carriers. A new type of steamboat succeeded the sidewheeler. In November, 1841, the "Vandalia," one hundred and thirty-eight tons, was launched in Oswego, New York, and fitted with an Ericcson's screw propeller. She was sloop rigged, with cabins on deck for passengers. The spring of 1842 she passed
712
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
through the Welland canal into Lake Erie, where she aroused great interest among vesselmen. It was soon discovered that this long, narrow, flat bottomed, straight sided, schoonerlike hull, was better suited for the freight and canal traffic than the sidewheeler. The machinery away-aft made handling easier and allowed the maximum room for cargoes. Within ten years fifty-three propellers were on the lakes, all but ten under four hundred tons. The popular size was about three hundred and fifty tons. They were built of oak plank and frames firmly bolted together, and were supplied with masts, and fore and aft sails, almost constantly used as auxiliaries and many had centerboards.
The first propeller built in Cleveland was the "Emigrant," two hundred and seventy-five tons, 1843; cost, fifteen thousand dollars. In 1845 she was altered to a brig and the same year wrecked at Avon Point. In 1845 the propeller "Phoe- nix" was built in Cleveland, three hundred and five tons, Captain B. G. Sweet, and owned by Pease and Allen of this city. On November 2, 1847, while upward bound on Lake Michigan, about fifteen miles north of Sheboygan, she was dis- covered afire and of the two hundred and fifty souls on board, mostly emigrants from Holland, nearly all perished. In 1846 the propeller "Oregon" was built in Cleveland, three hundred and forty-six tons, Captain John Stuart, owned by G. W. Jones. Early in April, 1855, while on her way from Detroit to the St. Clair river, and when nearly opposite Belle Isle, her boiler exploded, hurling the engine com- - pletely out of the boat, taking ten lives and sinking the hull.
By 1855, the year of the completion of the Sault canal, larger boats were demanded, and Cleveland again led in the building of the newer type, with five hundred tons burden. In 1865 twelve large propellers were built in Cleveland, aggregating six thousand, eight hundred and twenty-three tons burden. In 1867 Cleveland launched the "Roanoke," one thousand and sixty-nine tons, a pioneer in the one thousand tons class. She did service until 1894, when she was burned off Fourteen Mile Point. The following table of propellers built by Thomas Quayle & Sons, Cleveland, shows the final development of the wooden propeller :
Year
Propeller
Keel, ft.
Beam, ft. Hold, ft.
Tonnage
1878
Delaware
250
36
16
1732
1878 Conestoga
250
.36
16
1726
1878 Buffalo
260
36
16
1763
1879
Chicago
265
36
16
1847
1879
Milwaukee
265
36
16
1771
1880
Wocoken
250
37
19
1800
1881
John B. Lyon
255
38
20
1710
1881 City of Rome.
268
40
21
1908
In 1878 Radcliff's yards in Cleveland built the "John N. Glidden," one thou- sand, three hundred and twenty-three tons, two hundred and twenty-two feet keel, thirty-five feet beam, twenty feet hold; in 1880 the "A. Everett," one thou- sand, two hundred tons, two hundred and ten feet keel, thirty-five feet beam, eighteen and one-half feet hold, and the largest one measured one thousand, three hundred and ninety-three tons, two hundred and forty-eight feet keel, thirty-six and one-half feet beam, nineteen and one-half feet hold.
These splendid oak propellers cost from seventy-five thousand dollars to one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The largest required seven hundred
713
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
and fifty thousand feet of oak, fifty thousand feet of white pine and over one hundred tons of iron.
From 1841 to 1882 over six hundred of these propellers were built on the lakes, for the coal, grain, iron, lumber and general freighting business.17 But the growing scarcity and increased cost of timber compelled the adoption of another material and the example of England led to the using of iron.
IRON PROPELLERS.
The United States government in 1843 built the "Michigan," five hundred and thirty-eight tons, at Erie, entirely of iron, excepting the spar deck. The first commercial iron boat on Lake Erie was built in Buffalo, where tugs had been made of that material as early as 1861. In 1870 the Anchor Line contracted for four new ships for the upper lake trade and the following year the "India," "China" and "Japan," each two hundred and ten feet long, thirty-two and one-half feet beam, fourteen feet hold and one thousand, two hundred and thirty-nine tons, and the "Alaska," one thousand, two hundred and eighty-eight tons, were placed in service. These are still in commission.
But the prototype of the modern iron freight propellers was built in Cleveland at the Globe works in 1882, the "Onoko," two thousand, one hundred and sixty- four tons. She was a remarkable combination of the canal boat type and that of the oak propellers and was one of the marvels of the lakes, carrying the unpre- cedented cargo of one hundred and ten thousand bushels of corn. She was two hundred and eighty-two feet long, considered by vesselmen at that time the practical limit of size. Her earning capacity was a revelation to the carrying trade. "She has run on the lakes sixteen seasons and has earned money enough to load her down." 18 But the development has not ceased. In 1897 the "Amazon" carried a cargo of two hundred and thirty thousand bushels of corn and there are a num- ber of propellers of over 3,000 tons.
OTHER TYPES OF BOATS.
The barge was first used in the early '6os, in the lumber trade. In 1871 the first barge for carrying grain was used and practically revolutionized the business. Later it was adopted for the iron business. The whaleback was attempted in 1889 but has not proved popular.
In 1895 the first fleet of steel canalboats was sent from Cleveland to New York. It had its origin in an inquiry set on foot by the Chamber of Commerce, to determine why the manufacturers of Cleveland could not more successfully compete for the eastern market. It was learned that the Erie canal gave Buffalo an advantage in freight rates and to overcome this handicap, Charles E. Wheeler proposed the building of steel canalboats to take a cargo from Cleveland direct to New York without trans-shipment. A steamer and five consorts made the first trip in August, 1895, with a cargo of rails for the New York street railways.
17 United States Census, 1880, Vol. 7.
18 "History Great Lakes," p. 413.
714
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
II. TIIE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION LINES AND COMPANIES.
With the development of shipbuilding and traffic came of necessity the de- velopment of business organization. The ruinous competition of the sidewheeler days compelled a merging of interest. In 1833 the first association was formed. In the following year it controlled eighteen boats. It was discontinued in 1836, followed by another in 1839. In 1840, forty-eight boats valued at two million, two hundred thousand dollars were in the pool. This association fluctuated in power from year to year. Its headquarters were in Buffalo. They agreed on rates and fares between Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago, but met violent opposition. The year 1849 was a poor year for vesselmen and a new "combine" was formed among the vessel owners. Each boat was appraised and its appraised value given in scrip, was held in lieu of a stock certificate. "The association then sent each boat where it pleased. The earnings were pooled and paid as dividends on the scrip. It was reported that from three to four million dollars were in the combine. The "Herald" says "The association is a giant one but we can see no more reason why the lake interests should thus combine and fix rates of freight and passenger, than that dry goods merchants should do the same thing in regard to the price of goods." 19 Considerable popular sympathy was worked up for those not in the combine.
In 1850 transportation companies were being organized on the modern cor- porate plan. These usually owned small steamers plying between given points. The old haphazard plan of sending boats wherever there was a cargo was gradu- ally abandoned.
The Northern Transportation Company was organized in 1851, operating a number of propellers between Chicago and Ogdensburg and way points, and for twenty-four years was one of the leading lines on the lakes. One of the first dis- tinct Cleveland lines was the Lake Superior Line between Cleveland and the Sault, organized about 1853.
The Michigan Central railway ran a boat, the "Mayflower," one thousand, three hundred tons, between Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, in 1849. She was a splendid boat, with eighty-five staterooms and room for three hundred cabin and five hundred steerage passengers. In 1851 she stranded near Erie but was re- leased. In 1850 the "Atlantic" and the "Ocean," nine hundred tons, were added to the fleet, and in 1852 the "Forest City," four hundred and seventy-nine tons (later became the "Bay City") and the "May Queen," six hundred and eighty- eight tons (burned at Milwaukee, 1866), were put on the Cleveland route exclu- sively. The "Buckeye State" took the place of the "Atlantic" in 1853. "Plymouth Rock" and the "Western World," the finest boats on the lake, were added in 1854, and in 1855 the "Mississippi." These boats were each about three hundred and sixty-three feet long. The opening of the Great Western Railway through Can- ada, from Detroit to Buffalo, put the boats out of commission, and in 1858 they remained at their wharves. This was in its day the most prosperous passenger line that served Cleveland.
The Union Steamboat Company, one of the first freight transportation lines, began in 1851, when the New York & Erie railroad chartered a number of side-
19 "Herald," Vol. 33, No. 17.
Winter in the harbor, about 1879. showing old schooners
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