USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of the city of Cleveland: its settlement, rise and progress, 1796-1896 > Part 18
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The venerable priest has, himself, left this record of the building of that ship: "It was on the 22nd of January, 1679, that we began to clear a place on the banks of the Niagara River, for the purpose of constructing a vessel, and on the 30th the keel was ready to be laid. . . On the day appointed to launch her, it was named the " Griffin,' and we fired three cannon and sung the Te
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Deum, which was accompanied with whoops and cries of joy. The Iroquois, who happened to be on the spot that day, were witnesses of the ceremony. We gave them l'eau de vic (brandy) to drink, and they also partook of our de- light. From that time, we quitted our cabin on the shore, and slept on the vessel, to be out of the way of insults from the Indians. We were at last ready to sail, our crew consisting in all of thirty-four persons, and the day of our departure was on the 7th of August, 1679."
This forerunner of the fleets that plough the great lakes to-day was of forty-five tons burden. A figure, half eagle and half lion, carved in wood, adorned her prow. Five cannon made her safe from Indian attack. When launched, she was taken to Black Rock, near the site of Buffalo, where she received her finishing touches.
She sailed out into Lake Erie at the appointed time, touched here and there for purposes of trade, only to frighten the natives away and make barter with them impossible: reached the Detroit River, passed through to Lake Huron, and finally reached Mackinaw, which was then the great center of the western fur trade. She loaded with a goodly stock of these goods, at a small island in the vicinity of Green Bay, and on the 17th of September, as night fell, fired her parting gun and sailed away into the heart of a coming storm. La Salle and his associates who remained for further explorations, saw her disappear in the gloom-and in that gloom she has been wrapped forever. No word-no hint of her fate has been given in all the years that have passed since then. No known man again saw her crew; no relic was cast upon the shore. She doubtless perished in that storm, and not a soul was saved to tell the tale.
The entrance from the lake, at the point where Moses Cleaveland, in later years, surveyed the forests, on the present site of our fair city, may or may not have been seen or touched at by the bold Frenchman on his upward trip. If he did land here, he left no record of the fact. Early mention of the Cuyahoga, and some account of its
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first white visitors, may be found in an earlier portion of this work.
When Cleveland was selected as the capital of the"Re- serve, the Cuyahoga emptied itself into the lake west . of its present artificial mouth, while yet farther west could be seen the location of a still earlier bed, then only a stagnant pond. Across the river mouth ran a bar of sand, which, in the spring and fall, was torn open by the floods, but in summer rose so high that even the small schooners of the day had difficulty in passing in and out. Once inside, a fairly good harborage was found.
The building of ships in Cleveland commenced at an early day. The ventures of Major Carter with the " Zephyr," and of Levi Johnson with the " Pilot," have been already recorded. In 1810, Murray & Bixby built the "Ohio," of sixty tons. She was sailed by Captain John Austen, and afterwards became a part of Commodore Perry's fleet, but took no part in the great fight, being absent on other service. While the " Pilot " was under construction, another craft, the "Lady of the Lake," of about thirty tons, was being built by Mr. Gaylord, a brother of the wife of Leonard Case. This vessel was sailed by Captain Stone, between Detroit and Buffalo. The " Pilot " was kept busy from the first in the employ of the United States, carrying army stores and troops; and touching at Detroit, Maumee, Erie, Buf- falo, and other points on the lake, as occasion required. In 1815, Mr. Johnson commenced the schooner " Nep- tune," of sixty-five tons burthen; she was launched in the spring following. Her first trip was to Buffalo. She was afterwards engaged in the fur trade, in the employ of the American Fur Company. The " Pru- dence " was built, in 1821, by Philo Taylor; and in 1826 John Blair constructed the " Macedonian," and Captain Burtiss the " Lake Serpent."
It was in 1818, that the people of Cleveland, for the first time, saw a steam-vessel come to anchor before their
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city.41 It was the famous, picturesque, and somewhat oddly constructed "Walk-in-the-Water,"-so named after an Indian chief. Her visit here was made on Au- gust 25th, on her way from Buffalo to Detroit, under command of Captain Job Fish, who had been an engineer for Fulton, on the Hudson. She was of three hundred tons burthen, could travel a steady eight or ten miles an hour, and accommodate one hundred cabin passengers, and a large number in the steerage. The people of Cleveland saluted her with a round of artillery, and several promi- nent citizens continued with her to Detroit.
The "Walk-in-the-Water" was constructed at Black
THE "WALK-IN-THE-WATER."
Rock, and launched on the 28th of May, 1818. As her engines were not of sufficient power to carry her against the rapids," the captain went ashore; drummed up the thinly-settled country; collected twenty yoke of oxen; attached them to a line fixed on the vessel, and by their
41 The "Cleaveland Register," under date of November 3rd, 1818, says: " The facility with which she moves over our lakes warrants us in saying she will be of utility, not only to the proprietors, but to the public. She affords to us a safe, sure, and speedy conveyance of all our surplus prod- ucts to distant markets. She works as well in a storm as any vessel on the lakes, and answers the most daring expectations of the proprietor."
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aid and her steam, acting together, quickly pulled her up.
She left Buffalo on her trial trip, on August 23rd. She made seven trips to Detroit the first season, each occupy- ing from nine to ten days. An early passenger #2 has left us an account of her launching, and his first experi- ences of travel by steam-boat : " In August, 1818, I was present at Black Rock and saw the first steam-boat 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 difficulty in getting up the river into the lake, consequently she was obliged to wait for a ' horn breeze,' as the sailors term it, and hitch on eight 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."
Mr. Howe relates his experience as a passenger: "I took passage from Black Rock to Cleveland on board the steamer ' Walk-in-the-Water,' and ascended the Niagara River through the aid of and assistance of that 'horn breeze,' before described. The usual speed of this boat was about eight miles an hour, without the use of sails, and made a trip to Detroit in about eight days. We ar- rived off Cleveland at near the close of the second day, under a heavy northwest gale of wind, and a heavy sea. At that time there was no entrance to the harbor, except for very small craft and lighters. It was soon discovered that the boat could proceed no farther against the wind, and could not put back without great peril. Finally all the anchors were cast, with the alternative of riding out the gale or going onto the beach, and I think the latter was most expected by all on board. The gale continued
42 " Autobiography and Recollections of a Pioneer Printer," by Eber D. Howe; Painesville, Ohio, 1878, p. 20.
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for three nights and two days without much abatement, and on the morning of the third day, the passengers were taken ashore in small boats, among whom were the late Governor Wood, wife and child."
The steamer ran successfully through the seasons of 1819-20, and up to November, 1821, when she was driven ashore, near Buffalo, and wrecked. In a sketch of the life of Orlando Cutter, one of the pioneers of Cleveland, is found an incident in connection with that event. He went east in the fall of 1821, and on his return decided to exchange his former schooner experiences for an ex- periment with steam. In company with two friends, George Williams and John S. Strong, and some seventy other passengers, he went aboard at Black Rock, in the afternoon. The oxen were called into requisition, to get them over the rapids, ere they proceeded out into the open lake. In the night a furious gale arose, and Cap- tain Rogers, who was then in command, put back, but was not able to get into Buffalo Creek. He came to an anchor near its mouth. Mr. Cutter, who was very sea- sick, lay in his cabin below, little caring for further ex- periments with steam. Towards morning, the anchor gave way, and the career of usefulness of the " Walk- in-the-Water " was ended. She was driven ashore side- wise and lay easy on a sand beach, so that the passengers and crew reached shore without loss of life.
Some further details of this exciting contest between steam and storm, were personally furnished the writer a few years ago, by the George Williams above referred to.43 At the time of the narration, he was living in Cleve- land, of a venerable old age, but with mind and memory as clear as a bell. Mr. Williams said: "As she cast off her tow-line and moved unaided into the broad waters of Lake Erie, there was no anticipation of the terrible gale we were soon to encounter. The boat had a full com- plement of passengers, and a full cargo of goods, mostly
43 " The Early Marine Interests of Cleveland," by James Harrison Ken- nedy .- " Magazine of Western History," Vol. II., p. 452.
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for western merchants, one of whom, Mr. Palmer, of Detroit, was on board with his bride. There was also a company of missionaries, several of whom were ladies, on their way to some western Indian tribe. As the winds rose, friends grouped themselves together, and as the storm grew more and more furious, there was great ter- ror among them. The young bride was frantic, shriek- ing and calling on her husband. The missionaries sang hymns, and devoted themselves to soothing the terrified. There was a Mr. Strong on board, a cattle dealer and farmer, after whom Strongsville, near Cleveland, was
WRECK OF THE "WALK-IN-THE-WATER."
named. He had in his saddle-bags the proceeds of a drove of cattle just sold at the east. Through the night and during the height of the storm, he lay in a berth near the companion way, his saddle-bags under his head. When asked how he could lie there so quietly, he noncha- lantly replied, if he was to be drowned he might as well be drowned there as anywhere. We lay tossed of the tempest, the big seas sweeping over us all the long night. Just as the first gleam of daylight appeared, our anchor
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began to drag. The captain, seeing the impossibility of saving the steamer, ordered her beached. With skilled seamanship she was sent broadside on. A rope was stretched from boat to beach, and the passengers were ferried to shore in the small boat. They reached it, drenched and exhausted, but all saved. Yes, of all on board then, I suppose I am the only one now living."
Returning to the ship-building interests of Cleveland, we find Noble H. Merwin engaged in the construction of a schooner of forty-four tons, at the foot of Superior street. She was launched in March, 1822.43ยช Her chain cable was an article of home industry-one of Cleveland's first iron manufactures-and was made on the anvil of one Jones, a blacksmith. As a test of its strength, it was fastened to a butternut tree, and pulled upon by twelve yoke of oxen. Although it parted under the strain, it was thought strong enough for the uses to which it would be put. " When she was launched," says George B. Merwin, " I stood on the heel of her bowsprit, and as she touched the water, christened her, by giving her my mother's name, ' Minerva,' and broke a gallon jug of whisky over her bows, as was the custom on similar occasions in those times. She was dispatched to Mack- inac, loaded with provisions, for the garrison on that island, and made the round trip in four weeks, which at that time was regarded as a wonderful achievement."
In 1824, the first steamship built at this port, was con- structed by Levi Johnson, in partnership with the Turhooven brothers. It was called the " Enterprise," and was about two hundred and twenty tons. Its engine was of from sixty to seventy horse-power, and was built in Pittsburg. Mr. Johnson, himself, commanded her, running between Buffalo and Detroit. When hard times struck the vessel interests in 1828, he sold her, and retired from the lakes. He aided in building only one more vessel, the " Commodore," which was constructed on the
43 This was the first vessel registered at Washington from the district of Cuyahoga, under the United States revenue laws.
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Chagrin River, in 1830. From that date on, the building of lake craft was continued by various parties, as the busi- ness of the port required.
The route, by which the early vessels entered Cleveland, via what afterwards was called " the old river bed," was uncertain, because of the bars of sand which rapidly ac- cumulated at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The people of Cleveland began to agitate an improvement, and naturally looked to the general government for relief. The appeal was not in vain, and, by an act passed by Congress on March 3rd, 1825, five thousand dollars were appropriated to the building of a pier at Cleveland. This ran six hun- dred feet into the lake, nearly at right angles with the shore, and beginning forty rods east of the east bank of the river at its mouth. This brought no relief, as the sand filled in as rapidly as before. Congress was per- suaded to appropriate an additional ten thousand dollars, and in 1827, Major T. W. Maurice, of the United States engineer corps, prepared a plan for permanent relief, which the government adopted. It was nothing less than the opening of a new and more direct channel, at a point where the bend of the river carried it near to the lake shore. A dam was built across the river, opposite the south end of the experimental pier, from which so much had been expected and so little came. When the rains came, the river rose, men with spades and teams with scrapers were engaged in abundance, and a trench dug across the isthmus from the river to the lake. With the first break into the outlet, the force of the water itself came into play, and the work was practically done. The next spring saw the commencement of the eastern pier. Eventually, both piers were carried back to the river, and also extended into the lake: Congress making successive appropriations for the work. By 1840, over seventy-five thousand dollars had been used in this work, but a good harbor had been secured. The mouth of the old river bed gradually filled up, and the bed itself was used as a place of anchorage and wharfage.
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Cleveland not only saw her first steam-boat in 1818, but her first newspaper as well. On the 31st of July, the " Cleaveland Gazette and Commercial Register " made its appearance. In its prospectus the promise was made, that it should appear weekly, but that promise was not always kept, sometimes ten days or two weeks elapsing between days of publication. It was edited and published by Andrew Logan,44 was not large in size, and was man- aged with considerable ability while it lived, which was only during the year of its birth, or perhaps a little later.
The second venture in Cleveland journalism resulted in the publication of a newspaper, that had a long and wonderful career, and exerted a powerful influence all through this section for more than sixty years. The first number of the "Cleaveland Herald " was issued on October 19th, 1819, without a single subscriber, and under difficulties which might make even a modern pub- lisher quail. Eber D. Howe, whom we have already quoted, has told in a terse and graphic manner the story of that venture, and as direct witnesses are always to be preferred to hearsay narrators, I will allow him to speak for himself : " I commenced looking about for ma- terial aid to bring about my plan for putting in operation the 'Cleaveland Herald.' With this view, I went to Erie, and conferred with my old friend Willes, who had the year before started the 'Erie Gazette.' After due consultation and deliberation, he agreed to remove his press and type to Cleveland after the expiration of the first year in that place. So, on the 19th of October, 1819, without a single subscriber, the first number of the ' Cleaveland Herald ' was issued. Some of the diffi- culties and perplexities now to be encountered may here
44 " The 'Register ' had been put in operation by Andrew Logan, who brought his press and type from Beaver, Pa., which were so badly worn (nearly down to the third nick, as printers say), that the impressions were nearly illegible. Mr. Logan was a very small man, of a very dark com- plexion, and was, by some, said to be a lineal descendant of the famous Mingo chief. The ' Register' was discontinued a few months after the establishment of the ' Herald.' "- Eber D. Howe, in " Autobiography and Recollections of a Pioneer Printer."
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be mentioned, as matters of curiosity to the present gener- ation. Our mails were then all carried on horse-back. We had one mail a week from Buffalo, Pittsburg, Co- lumbus, and Sandusky. The paper, on which we printed, was transported in wagons from Pittsburg, and at some seasons the roads were in such condition that it was im- possible to procure it in time for publication days. Ad- vance payments for newspapers at that time were never thought of. In a few weeks our subscription list amounted to about 300, at which point it stood for about two years, with no very great variation. These were scattered all over the Western Reserve, except in the County of Trumbull. In order to extend our circulation to its greatest capacity, we were obliged to resort to measures and expedients which would appear rather ludicrous at the present day. For instance, each and every week, after the paper had been struck off, I mounted a horse, with a valise, filled with copies of the ' Herald,' and distributed them at the doors of all subscribers between Cleveland and Painesville, a distance of thirty miles, leaving a package at the latter place; and on returning diverged two miles to what is known as Kirtland Flats, where another package was left for distribution, which occupied fully two days. I fre- quently carried a tin horn to notify the yeomanry of the arrival of the latest news, which was generally forty days from Europe and ten days from New York. This serv- ice was performed through the fall, winter, and spring, and through rain, snow, and mud, with only one addi- tional charge of fifty cents on the subscription price; and as the number of papers thus carried averaged about sixty, the profits may be readily calculated." Ha
At the end of two years of this hard and trying labor, Mr. Howe ceased his connection with the " Herald," and Mr. Willes continued its publication. For some thirteen years it occupied the journalistic field without a rival.
The decade from 1810 to 1820, was one of quiet but steady growth for Ohio, her population doubling in that time,
44a Autobiography of Eber D. Howe, p. 23.
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and reaching over a half million at the date last named. Cheap land and a fruitful soil, with the hopeful attraction of a promising future, had invited a steady immigration from the east. The Erie Canal had stimulated a desire for a direct connection between Lake Erie and the Ohio River: in 1820, the first legislative steps toward that end were taken. Cleveland felt the reviving and encouraging effects of this general advance in the State, and although she was not to emerge, for some years, from the uncer- tain prospects of villagehood, we find evidences, here and there, of her ambition toward larger things.
Cleveland had, in her earlier days, the same crude forms of transportation, and the same difficulties to face, as confronted her pioneer neighbors everywhere, except that the lake gave her vessel facilities in one direction, and the Cuyahoga River in another. Overland freight came in winter by sleighs, and in summer on a huge vehicle called a " Pennsylvania," or " Conestoga" wagon, which had to be put together solidly, and well provided with strong horses, to overcome the difficulties of the pioneer roads.
As compared with other means of travel, the stage-coach was the palace car of its day. Cleveland took a long stride upward, when, in 1820, a stage line connected her with Columbus: in the autumn, another joined her to Nor- walk. Wagon lines were established, at about the same time, to Pittsburg and Buffalo. The conveyance in which passengers to Pittsburg rode has been described to the writer, as "a canvas top, set solidly on a springless wagon, with three plain boards for seats." Passengers by stage-coach, in summer, had a comparatively easy time, but in the spring or fall their lot was often one of trouble. " The traveler," says an early account, "was sure to be called on to go on foot a large portion of the time, and was often expected to shoulder a rail and carry it from mudhole to mudhole to pry out the vehicle in which he was, in theory, supposed to be riding."
In 1823, a movement was set on foot for the improve-
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ment of the public highways. The State directed the laying out of a " free road " from Cleveland to the Ohio River, in Columbiana County. A movement was made in the same year to turnpike the stage-road running to the southwest, and as a result the Wayne, Medina & Cuy- ahoga Turnpike Company came into being and did good work, making one of the best highways in the State. In 1824, another State road was laid out, running from Cleve- land along the line now known as Kinsman street, and out through Warrensville and Orange. With these wagon and stage lines, with the canal when opened, and with the facilities offered by the lake, the traveling public was compelled to content itself until the dawning of the great railroad era.
In 1819, Joel Scranton came to Cleveland, and soon be- came one of the prominent merchants of the place. He brought with him a schooner load of leather, well know- ing that he had something for which there would be a demand. In the same year came John Blair, from his farm home in Maryland, in the hope of gaining a fortune in the west. As a means toward that end, he carried three dollars in his pocket, but by a small and lucky speculation in pork, soon increased his capital, and before long opened a produce and com- mission store on the river. THE "OLD STONE CHURCH" OF 1834. In 1820, Peter M. Weddell arrived, went into business, and soon made himself one of the leading commercial factors of Cleveland. Michael Spangler came also, and his "Commercial House " was for some years one of the landmarks of the village.
It was in 1820 that Cleveland saw the organization of her second church society, and the commencement of a
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line of religious work that has steadily increased and broadened, until to-day it is felt for the general good, in many directions. On the 19th of September of that year, a little company gathered in the old log court-house, and with a membership of but fifteen, organized the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland.45 Rev. Randolph Stone, pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Morgan, Ashta-
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THE "OLD STONE CHURCH " OF TO-DAY.
bula County, had been engaged previously, by several residents of Cleveland, to give one-third of his time to this place, and upon the organization of this new church he became its minister. Services were conducted in the
45 The names of these fifteen were: Elisha Taylor, and Ann, his wife; T. J. Hamlin, P. B. Andrews, Sophia L. Perry, Bertha Johnson, Sophia Walworth, Mabel How, Henry Baird, and Ann, his wife; Rebecca Carter, Juliana Long, Isabella Williamson, Harriet How, and Minerva Merwin.
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court-house for a time: then were held in the newly- erected brick academy building on St. Clair street. In 1827, the society was legally incorporated as the " First Presbyterian Society of Cleveland," and at the annual meeting Samuel Cowles was chosen president, D. H. Beardsley secretary, and P. M. Weddell treasurer. The first building, the " Old Stone Church," was dedicated in 1834; was demolished in 1853, to make room for a new edifice, which was soon burned down. It was followed by the erection of the present structure, which has stood for years as one of the gospel centers of Cleveland. 46
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