USA > Ohio > A history of the state of Ohio, natural and civil > Part 23
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The face of the walls are of cut stone, laid in regular range work, and in lime mortar, the whole wall grouted with the same material. The breadth of the locks is fifteen feet between the walls, and the length of the chambers, being the space between the upper and lower gates, ninety feet-ad-
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mitting boats seventy-eight feet in length, and fourteen feet ten inches in breadth, to pass freely through.
Aqueducts are constructed with wooden trunks, supported by piers of stone masonry, which, on the Ohio canal, with the exception of two small structures in the Cuyahoga valley, is of the same character as that used in the locks. The mason- ry of the others is of uncut, or hammer dresssed stone.
The stone culverts on the Ohio canal, with the exception of a few of a small class, erected soon after the commencement of the work, are composed of arches, formed of stone, cut in reg- ular segments, and laid in range work, with wing and parapet walls of cut stone. Those on the Miami canal, and a few on the Ohio canal, are composed of rough or uncut stone.
Wood culverts are used for land drains, and to pass small spring runs under the canal, in situations where they will al- ways be kept under water, so as not to be liable to decay.
Large aqueducts and culverts, as well as dams, are found- ed on piles, except where rock or other secure foundations could be had.
Where it has been found necessary to erect locks, in situa- tions where the earth at the bottom of the pit was composed of light alluvion, mud, or quicksand, bearing piles have in some instances been used to form a secure and firm founda- tion. But mature reflection, confirmed by numerous experi- ments, has produced the conviction that a more secure, as well as more cheap foundation can be obtained by excavating the pit to an extra depth, and covering it with a stratum of coarse gravel of from one to two feet in thickness, wrought into puddle, in which the floor timbers are to be imbedded. This plan has therefore, in most instances, been adopted.
The Ohio and Erie canal, extending from the Ohio river at Portsmouth, to Cleveland on lake Erie, was finished in 1831-2. It is three hundred and nine miles long.
This main canal has many other canals connected with it. The side cut, leading from Lockburn to Columbus is eleven miles in length. Ascending the main canal to Carrolton, a side cut canal, now finished to Lancaster, is making to the falls of
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Hocking, and will be extended to Athens, and even to the Ohio river, perhaps, if practicable. This canal will be from seventy to one hundred miles in length.
In Licking county is a canal made, from the main trunk to Granville. Still ascending to Dresden where we find the main canal is connected with the Muskingum river, by a damn and lock. By a series of dams, short canals and locks, along the last mentioned river, now in a state of forwardness as to completion, this water communication will be finished to the Ohio, at the mouth of the Muskingum at Marietta.
The next canal, connected with the main one, as we ascend it, is the Walhonding canal, at Roscoe. This is making now, that is, about thirty miles of it, are soon to be finished. Ascending to Bolivar, in Tuscarawas county, (three miles or more from Zoar,) at the mouth of Sandy creek, a canal is making and will be finished, one hundred miles long. This canal connects Bolivar with the town of Beaver, on the Ohio riv- er, thirty miles below Pittsburgh. Starting from near Beaver, another canal is rapidly making to intersect the main canal at or near Akron. The former passes by Now Lisbon, the latter, by Warren, in Trumbull county. These last named canals are about equal in length and in their cost. Their length is one hundred miles, each, and their cost, one million of dollars each, or upwards. Though owned by private companies, in part, now, the state will soon be the sole owner of them.
THE MIAMI AND MAUMEE CANAL,
Extends from Cincinnati to Piqua, passing Middletown, Dayton &c. It is now finished the distance of one hundred . miles and is rapidly extending northwards towards lake Erie. It is navigated about one hundred miles. 'Thirty miles of this canal extending from Piqua towards lake Erie, are now mak- ing, and an equal or greater distance, is extending from the mouth of Maumee bay at the lake, up the Maumee river. This canal will, when completed, be the longest one in this state. Where it touches the eastern line of Indiana, it will be X
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connected with the great Wabash canal, extending to Evans- ville on the Ohio river.
The importance of this canal, passing through the Miami and Wabash valleys, down the Maumee valley to Manhattan, on lake Erie, is apparent to any one who looks at the maps of Ohio and Indiana. That branch of it, which passes along the Wabash river, will do a vast deal of business for Indiana and Illi- nois states. It passes through the richest soil of both states. Our branch of this canal, passes through the Miami valley, the best cultivated portion of Ohio. The northern end of it, from lake Erie to Indiana line, will be sixty feet wide, six feet deep, with a double set of locks, so as to admit lake vessels, up into the heart of the country. Ohio has in possession, either in land or money, ample funds to complete this splendid canal. The amount of tonnage carried on it will, one day, be great, and exceed, perhaps, that carried on any other, in the western states. Side cut canals auxiliary to this, will be numerous, though but one is now making from the main trunk to Leba- non.
Other canals, from the Ohio and Erie canal are in contem- plation and will finally be made, connecting lake Erie with it. One from Sandusky city to Lockburn; another from the mouth of Black river to connect the main canal with it, and sev- eral others.
To make all these additions, we have on hand two millions and a half of dollars; we have a small tax, annually levied on all the personal and real estate of Ohio, we have the industry, the enterprise, energy, and wealth of individuals, the canal tolls and the credit of this state.
We had forgotten a canal now making from Cincinnati up White water into Indiana. This canal will throw into the Ohio river at an important point, the productions of the richest part of our neighboring state. It will be of great value to Cin- cinnati, and invaluable to a portion of Indiana. It is called,
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THE CINCINNATI AND WHITE WATER CANAL.
It is estimated to cost, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars .. Its length is twenty five miles, and connects with the White water canal of Indiana at the state line, half a mile south of the town of Harrison. It passes down the east side of the White water river to near its mouth, thence crossing the Miami river a little above the town of Cleves, it enters the Ohio valley through a deep cut at North Bend of one fourth of a mile in length, thence along the the bank of the Ohio river, to Cin- cinnati.
ROADS.
The Cumberland road, extending west from Bridgeport, oppos- ite Wheeling, is making by the United States. It will, when completed, reach all the capitals of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and strike the Mississippi river, either at Alton, or, opposite St. Louis, in Missouri. This road is completed from Bridgeport to fourteen miles west of Columbus. The labor now doing on it, is performing immediately east of Springfield. It ought to be finished, in this state, to Indiana line, within three years, or by 1840. As soon as any portion of it is finished, the state receives it from the general government, and places gates on it, and collects tolls, wherewith to keep it in repair.
RAIL ROADS.
The first rail road made in this state, was finished in 1836 by the people of Toledo, a town some two years old then, situ- ated near the mouth of Maumec bay. The road extends west- wardly into Michigan and is some thirty miles in length. There is a rail road, about to be made from Cincinnati, to Springfield. This road follows the Ohio river up to the Little Miami river, and there turns northwardly up its valley, to Xe- nia, and passing the Yellow Springs, reaches Springfield. Its length must be about ninety miles. The state will own one half of the road, individuals and the city of Cincinnati, the
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other half. This road will, no doubt, be extended to lake Erie, at Sandusky city, within a few short years.
There is a rail road about to be made, from Painesville, to the Ohio river. There are many charters for other rail roads, which will never be made. So we fear, we might say of sev- eral turnpikes, for want of enterprise and public spirit where they should be made by the people in their vicinity.
TURNPIKE ROADS.
The first one made in this state, extended from Warren in 'Trumbull county to lake Eric.
There is a clay turnpike from Ohio City, in the direction of Columbus, but, except in dry weather, we cannot praise it greatly.
The same remarks apply to the road from Columbus to San- dusky city, one hundred and six miles in length. There is a charter for a turnpike, from Cincinnati to Zanesville, through Chillicothe, Lancaster, &c. There is a sort of a road, from Sandusky to Perrysburgh.
There is a turnpike in progress, actually making from Cincin- nati to Springfield, through Lebanon, Waynesville and Xenia. So far as it is finished it is an excellent road.
There is another road from Cincinnati, along the Ohio river and up the Little Miami, twenty odd miles, completed in a substantial manner.
There are two other excellent roads from Cincinnati, extend- ing northwardly into the interior.
All the canals, rail roads and turnpikes actually begun, will be finished by 1843. And these canals and roads will have cost fifteen millions of dollars. We shall then have eight hun- dred miles of canals, and one thousand miles of rail roads, and turnpikes, including the Cumberland road. Tolls will be col- lected on all of them. On the Cumberland road, sufficient tolls will be paid to keep it in repair. Some of the roads, will do more than that, but, the capital expended on roads, gener- ally, may be considered as gone forever. Few roads will
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ever do more than keep themselves in repair. Canals will pay for their construction, at some future day, roads never will do it. We have neither the room, nor the wish to prove our proposition, but from information which we have received all. over the Union, as to roads, we are satisfied that our Ohio roads will never refund a cent of the capital, expended on them.
If the Baltimore turnpike from Baltimore to Cumberland can do no more than keep itself in repair, no road in this state can even do that, without more travel than we have, and higher tolls than travelers will pay. The state has done wrong, to subscribe to the stock in our roads, until we had more money than we knew what to do with. However, it is done, and can- not be undone.
The Cumberland road must soon be made wider, to accom- modate the increased travel upon it. Allowing the western country to contain now eight millions of people, and that our increase be one million a year (a low estimate) in 1850 there will be twenty-one millions in the country west of the moun- tains. These twenty-one millions will visit every year, (that is our business men) the eleven millions east of the mountains. And the ten or eleven millions in the east, will also travel westward more or less. No small portion of all this travel will pass over our territory in Ohio. To accommodate all this traveling population, we must have more, wider and better roads and canals. In constructing them, we should have spe- cial regard to the increase of travel and business to be done on them, even within a very few years.
If our roads and canals are too narrow for our population thirteen years hence, how can they accommodate the travelers on them, fifty years hence, when nine new states will be and must be admitted into the Union, on this side the Rocky moun- tains; and those states be the largest states as to territory, in in the whole Confederacy? This hint is intended for those who are in authority. Even this state, in 1850, will contair, three, but more probably four millions of people. Our roads
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and canals arc scarcely sufficient for the people, whose busi- ness must be done on these great highways of the nation.
We have said nothing of our vastly increased amount of agricultural products at that time, which will pass along these highways to a market; nor of the increased wants of the cast- ern people for the prime necessaries of life, as their soil wears out, and fails to produce food enough for those who live on that sterile, narrow strip of land, called the old thirteen states. Their food must eventually come from this western country, or from Europe; probably from both, within a very few years to come. Our board of canal commissioners should elevate their views as they look through the vista of futurity, and project all our public highways for fifty years' growth of the West.
Should a war come with England again, these highways would save millions of dollars to the nation.
Should a war happen between this nation and England six years hence, forty thousand volunteers could easily be raised in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. After the troops from Ken- tucky had reached the Ohio river, at the proper points, they and all their munitions of war, could be carried to lake Erie in five days. All their provisions, horses and cannon would be conveyed along these highways, free of toll. In this view our improvements are invaluable, not only to us, but to the whole nation. But no future Proctor will ever land on the soil of this state, and no army of ours will ever again suffer for food, for raiment, or ammunition, on the soil of Ohio.
Should the south be invaded, our four hundred steamers in the West, would soon convey an overwhelming force to meet, and either conquer, or drive the enemy into the sea. The days of our infancy in the West are passed away, and gone forever. Our youth is ripening into manhood, when the West will be the seat of an empire, such as the world does not contain now, either in numbers, wealth or power. The re- verse of our now situation in Ohio, must one day, be our lot . Now when New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina and Georgia, have four secretaries at Washington, and we, two in- ferior clerks !
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COMMON ROADS.
On the valley of the Mississippi, the sun of our prosperity has risen and will assuredly continue to ascend until he shines in all his meridian splendor. The seat of the last, the great- est, the most glorious, wealthy and powerful empire in the world, must be located in the Mississippi valley. The hand of time which will strike out of existence other empires, and sink them into oblivion, shall only roll up the curtain which hangs before them, and show the world all the splendors of this. We must have patience, and wait a short period, and " this day of small things" shall be forgotten, or remembered only with pride and exultation at the then contrast. Let us elevate our views, discard all narrow ones, all low aims, and prepare for the destiny which awaits us, as well as our posterity, forever.
COMMON ROADS AND HIGHWAYS.
Many of these are very good during about eight months in the year. From Columbus to Chillicothe is such a road, but it needs more bridges across the streams, and should be thrown up in the form of a turnpike, so that no water would stand on it. The difficulty of procuring stone to cover it, is a misfortune, which at present we cannot remedy. We have not in this region any good hard limestone near us. In this respect the Miami country enjoys a privilege which we do not possess. Our country is alluvial and all the stone we have fit for the purpose is in the beds of our streams brought to us from near their head waters. These pebbles will one day be used by those who come after us. All our common roads are not what they should be, and what we hope they will be at a fu- ture day. Every man in the state is taxed annually, two days work on our roads. We have a small amount from the United States on the sales of their lands, and a tax on our property, in aid of our poll tax, appropriated yearly for road purposes. More labor is necessary to be beneficially expended on our roads. The best common roads are now, perhaps, in New Connecticut.
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HISTORY OF OHIO.
Their roads in that part of Ohio are straight, and much labor is expended on them by the people.
The United States ought to make a road from Lower San- dusky to Detroit. The one which they have pretended to make is of little value.
The BLACK SWAMP, should we have another war with our old enemy, in the first campaign, would tell congress what they had neglected to do. During this period of peace, is the time to make this road, and unless all former experience is lost on the nation, appropriations will soon be made annually, to make this road what it should be, a permanent, good, substantial highway. The black swamp has already cost the nation a million of dollars, besides many brave men who perished from the sickness which they caught by wading through it. Pitts- burgh and Greensburgh in Pennsylvania, and Petersburgh in Virginia, will long remember those who thus perished and were buried in this black swamp. Ohio lost in the same way, and in the same swamp, not a few of her best soldiers.
BRIDGES.
Our best ones and the greatest number of them, are on the national road. All of them are good, and some of them are excellent. Across the Stillwater at Cambridge, the Muskin- gum at Zanesville, and the Scioto at Columbus, there are bridges which may vie with any others in the west. Across the Scioto at Circleville and Chillicothe, are excellent bridges, which the people in their vicinity have erected. At Dayton and Hamilton are good bridges across the Great Miami. The best bridged stream in the state is the Great Beaver in New Connecticut. We need in the state, ten thousand additional bridges. We need wider and better roads and canals; such as will accommodate ten times as many travelers as now pass along them.
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STATE OF LEARNING.
THE STATE OF LEARNING IN OHIO.
One of our difficulties, which we must meet, is, and for thirty years to come, will be, the certainty of large numbers of immigrants, settling among us from all parts of Europe. These, when they arrive among us, are, and always will be, entirely ignorant of our institutions. These are to be instruct- ed, and moulded into the mass of our people. Their children are to be educated. Thus far, whenever these foreigners have settled down in any town, they have made very good, peacea- ble and quiet citizens. Their children haye, many of them, soon learned to read and speak our language. In Cincinnati where most pains have been taken to teach them, they have made very commendable progress in learning, for the time they have been at school. It is cheaper, for those who own proper- ty, to educate all the children of the state, than to punish them for the crimes, which they will commit, if left to grow up in ignorance and vice. In this view of the subject, if we rise no higher, in our motives, every man of property, will cheerfully bestow some of his time, as well as his money, on this subject, so desirable and praise worthy. With a continual eye to this object, our legislature might soon have an income arising from stocks in our canals and roads, sufficient to edu- cate every child in the state. Let us hope that our means may keep pace with our wants.
There ought to be a Board of Education, who should have the superintendence of all our colleges, academies and com- mon schools. This board should be selected without reference to any party in religion or politics; to be appointed by the governor, and not liable to be removed from office. The su- perintendence of such a board, would be extremely useful to our colleges, in a variety of ways. Their visits to the several literary institutions, would produce an excellent effect on the teachers and scholars, and diffuse among the great mass of the people, a healthful, moral action.
As things now are, in this state, too many of our litera- ry institutions, seem to bo so many elements of sectarian
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views, in religious matters. This is not as it should be; or if so, then the state should set up institutions, not under any par- ticular sect of Christians, and foster only such as were found- ed on the broadest basis of Christianity, without any reference to any of the various sects, into which Christianity is divided, and subdivided. We would not exclude clergymen from being instructors of youth, nor confine learning entirely to them.
To be an instructor of youth, requires as much tact as it does to be a divine, a physician or a lawyer. And the learn- ing it requires, to be an instructor in our higher literary insti- tutions, is certainly more than is requisite for one who would follow almost any other profession.
At the present time, Cincinnati has within its corporate limits, more and better means of affording instruction, than any other place in this state. Its medical school may be said' to be the only one, in the state, of the kind; and if any one seeks to acquire a thorough knowledge of the modern lan- guages, Cincinnati possesses the amplest means of affording such instruction.
And if any young man wishes to acquire a knowledge of any one of the learned professions, Cincinnati is certainly the best place of obtaining it, in the Valley of the Mississippi. And if any one wishes to learn any mechanical art, Cincinnati is the very place to learn it. The field is larger and better cultivated too, than any other, in Ohio, in which the arts grow and flourish. And this will necessarily continue to be the best place in the West, for a long time, in which to acquire knowledge. Perhaps we might except female instruction, to which Columbus, Dayton, Chillicothe, Zanesville and Circle- ville, have paid great attention.
The greatest difficulty in our way, is not the want of per- sons competent to teach, but a want of discernment in parents to properly appreciate and reward competent instructors for their labor. So long as the business of an instructor, is not considered in its true light, as one of the highest, noblest, and most useful employments on earth; so long, too, as the compensation is very low, so long shall we labor under all the
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disadvantages of our present depressed state of learning. That our schools, of all sorts, should not be equal to those in the Eastern states, whose, age, wealth and experience sur- pass ours, is not surprising. Ours is a new country, yet, and we have not had the time, to mature our institutions, of all sorts. It affords us some consolation, though, to see a gradual improvement, slow, indeed, but steadily, moving forward, to its ultimate usefulness. And we must not despise the "day of small things," but hope rather, that the pace will be quicken- ed, when the sun of science rises higher above the horizon. A board of education and funds at its command, would be of immense value to us; and let us hope that the day is not far distant, when such a board may be created and funds be set apart for its benificent uses.
It has often been pressed upon individual members of the legislature, to introduce a bill, for the purpose of organizing a board of education. It should form a part of the constitution itself, because, without education, no real good government can exist any where. Even monarchs have found it for their interest to have their subjects well educated. The kings of England, France and Prussia have done a great deal to pro- mote learning among their people, and they are still doing much, in that way. All the protestant princes of Europe are doing not a little, to promote education. We have done some- thing, in this state, but more needs doing, daily, by our rulers and by our people, to instruct all our citizens, in all that is useful for them to know. With our increased numbers, more statesmen will be needed to govern us; more lawyers, physi- cians and divines will be required, to maintain the rights of individuals; to heal the sick, and afford moral and religious instruction to our increased numbers of people. The present statesmen and professional men, were educated mostly, in the East, where they were born. These men, will not live always, nor is it probable that there will long be, an influx of educated young men from the East, into this state; such will soon begin to travel farther west before they settle down. We shall be compelled, very soon, to rely on our own resources, for profes-
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sional men, and unless our colleges are equal to eastern ones, there will be a falling off, in learning at the bar, in the desk, and in the halls of legislation. As the state increases in num- bers and wealth, more, not less, learning will be required. It requires something more than a mere superficial education, to carry on the business of this great and growing common- wealth. We fear that one reason, why our western young men who attend our higher schools, obtain no more education, while actually at school, is owing to a want of application to their studies, such as eastern colleges require. That youth should not have all the wisdom of age, is not surprising, but, that they should not feel willing to submit to hard study, to labor and diligence, would be their own and their country's misfortune. They will soon take our places, and govern the country; if well, they will be benefited by it, and if not, they will suffer for it, not their fathers, who will be in their graves. The world will be theirs who take it, not by sloth, but by la- bor, toil, diligence, activity and vigorous exertion.
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