USA > Ohio > History and geography of Ohio > Part 13
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CLOTHING
Early Ohio was remote from the cloth markets of the eastern cities, and each community, as has been pointed out, made its own homespun or blue jean.
The first great clothing center of the state was at Cincinnati, and much of the cloth used by these tailors was brought from woolen mills located at Zanesville, Chillicothe, and Steuben- ville. At this early day, ready-to-wear clothing was unknown. Everything was made to order. This was a slow process as compared with the large output of the modern clothing fac- tories. A single plant now makes from ten to fifteen thousand 0
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suits daily, and practically all the work is done by machinery. This is especially true of the sewing, which is done by means of electric machines, and of the cutting, in which from fifty to seventy-five suits are cut at one operation by the use of an electric knife. Machinery is also employed for the work of pressing, making button-holes, and sewing on buttons.
FIG. 129. The manufacture of clothing, Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland leads all other cities in the state in the production of women's clothing, while Cincinnati leads in men's clothing. This illustration shows the pattern-making depart- ment, where exact duplicates of Printzess master patterns are produced by skilled work- men. (Courtesy of the Printz-Biedeman Company)
The plants in Cincinnati are given over largely to the manu- facture of men's clothing, while the plants in Cleveland make women's apparel (Fig. 129). Other large clothing factories are located in Toledo and Columbus. The mills of Ohio require all of the state's output of wool, and large quantities are shipped in from other states and even from foreign lands. Many arti- cles that originally were made by hand, such as stockings, sweaters, and caps, are now turned out with great rapidity on machines. Explain how the use of machinery is a benefit to the laborer. Does it handicap him in any way?
FIG. 130. Paper-manufacturing at Chillicothe, Ohio
This illustration shows two Fourdrinier paper machines which manufacture high-grade book and magazine paper. The machines are electrically driven, and each has a capacity of 35 tons of paper every twenty-four hours. The illustration shows the wet end of the machine. The water is eliminated at this end, and another part of the same machine thoroughly dries the paper. (Courtesy of the Mead Pulp and Paper Company)
FIG. 131. Paper-manufacturing at Chillicothe, Ohio
This web-calender machine is used where highly finished paper is desired. Book paper is manufactured in machine finish and supercalender. Machine-finished paper is just as it comes from the end of the machine, whereas the supercalendered paper passes through this web calender two or three times, according to the finish desired. (Courtesy of the Mead Pulp and Paper Company)
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PRINTING AND PUBLISHING
There are published in Ohio today about 6000 newspapers and magazines. There are 185 daily newspapers, which are read by at least 2,000,000 Ohio people. Cleveland, Cincin- nati, Columbus, and Springfield have large printing plants, and are centers for the publication of books, catalogues, and magazines. Ohio holds an important rank in the printing and publishing business.
ELECTRICAL MACHINERY AND SUPPLIES
The last few years have witnessed phenomenal developments in the use of electricity, and in its application to the needs of the home, the farm, and the factory. Today most of our homes are lighted by means of the electric light. We travel from place to place in the city, and from town to town in the country, on the electric railway. We are in communication with every part of the state by means of the telephone. The electric motor and dynamo have played an important part in the building of various kinds of machinery. Washing and ironing are done in many homes by means of electrical appliances. In the summer time the house may be cooled by the electric fan, and the iceless refrigerator comes in to contribute its part to our com- fort. Electric devices are constantly on the increase, and it is often said that we are living in the age of electricity.
The common incandescent light is made by thousands in the factories of Cleveland, Toledo, and Dayton (Fig. 132). It is interesting to know that the man who invented the electric arc light in 1876 still lives in the city of Cleveland. Electric motors, so common in every factory, home, and automobile, are made in plants scattered throughout the state. The larg- est of these plants are located in Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Copper wire insulated with rubber, and like material used for telephone connections and the winding of armatures, is manufactured in large quantities in Dayton and Akron. The making of storage batteries, dry-cell batteries,
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electric stoves, spark plugs, and wireless telephones gives employment to thousands of workers in factories widely dis- tributed throughout the state.
BOOTS, SHOES, AND LEATHER
In pioneer days the making of a good pair of boots required several days' work. Production in our modern shoe factories
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FIG. 132. Manufacturing Mazda lamps, Nela Park, Cleveland, Ohio
This picture shows the process of blowing lamp bulbs. A small amount of molten glass is gathered on the blow-rod, and the bulb is blown within a cork-lined mold previously dipped in water. The steam cushion which forms between the hot glass and the mold, together with the twirling of the bulb, gives the glass a smooth polished surface
is in marked contrast. The change has been brought about by the use of machines which turn out thousands of pairs of shoes daily. The machine for sewing the leather was first used about 1850. Cincinnati, Columbus, and Portsmouth have large shoe factories.
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SPECIAL PROBLEMS FOR INVESTIGATION
1. Local factories. If your locality is an industrial one, try to explain the presence of the three most important industries. Which of the following factors has been most important in determining these industries : capital, fuel, raw materials, labor, transportation, or skillful workmen? Try to visit one of these plants and write a
FIG. 133. A wire-manufacturing plant at Cleveland, Ohio
These are coils of wire as they appear after the final process of manufacture. (Courtesy of the American Steel and Wire Company)
story of its products. If you have an opportunity, visit any of the following plants and find how the raw material is made into manu- factured articles : blast furnace, woolen mill, pottery, steel mill, flour mill, knitting shop, automobile factory, brickyard.
Explain why the most important industries in your locality have increased in size. What articles made in your community are con- sumed at home? What articles are shipped to foreign countries ?
2. How many of the following names were unknown in 1850: dynamo, motor car, electric light, wireless telephone, iceless refrigera- tor, gas engine, rubber tire, chewing gum, electric battery, steam presser, artificial silk, automobile truck, electric runabout, farm
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tractor, milk powder, ready-made clothing, Sunday newspaper, elec- tric washer, vacuum cleaner, cream separator, cash register, type- writer, binder, corn harvester, electric trolley ?
3. Have you seen all of the above manufactured products ? All of these articles are made in Ohio. Can you tell where ?
4. Something for a class to do. Organize a Junior Chamber of Commerce in your class and have as its object the collection of infor- mation concerning the industries of Ohio. Each member of this Chamber of Commerce should select some industry of Ohio and secure information for a report to the class. After the report is made the material should be part of a school collection. This Chamber should let its committees collect the literature from the Chamber of Commerce organizations in thirty of the largest cities in Ohio. Such material would form a good working collection for up-to-date information on industries in the larger centers of the state.
A class might construct a large outline map of Ohio, showing the cities of each county with a population of over 20,000 people. The products from the cities might be written on this map in red ink. Pictures of products from each city should be obtained from mag- azines and so arranged about the edge of the map that the indus- tries may be seen from the pictures.
Bring to school several of the weekly and monthly magazines. Select from these magazines the names of Ohio firms that advertise.
5. The future industries of Ohio. Make a list of the industries which will be important in your community in fifty years. Have some older person in your home give his opinion of the list you have prepared.
6. Why has there been such a rapid change in Ohio from home industry to manufacturing ?
Do you know of any countries where home and hand industry still prevail? Compare the condition of the people in those countries with that of the people of Ohio.
7. A school collection of local industrial products. Select any in- dustry in your community and collect the raw materials used in manufacturing the various products. Label carefully all the speci- mens so that they tell the story of manufacturing from the crude to the finished article. Some manufactured articles of small size can be illustrated very nicely by mounting the exhibits on a piece of heavy cardboard. If one or two clear pictures are included the exhibit may be made very attractive. Among the industries which
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might be suggested for this work: rubber; iron, from the ore to the finished article; clothing, from the wool to the cloth and the finished garment ; wheat, from the grain to the flour and the many products ; leather, from the raw hides to the finished article. Each exhibit should be carefully and clearly labeled.
8. Make a list of articles manufactured in Ohio which are shipped to foreign countries. Make a list of raw products and of manufactured goods which other countries ship into Ohio.
AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE PROBLEMS
1
ATWOOD, WALLACE W., New Geography, Book Two.
BOGART, E. L., Economic History of the United States, ch. XXVI.
CALDWELL and EIKENBERRY, General Science, pp. 173-242.
FARIS, J. T., Real Stories from Our History, chs. XLII, XLIII.
MOWRY, W. A., American Inventions and Inventors.
SPARKS, E. E., Expansion of the American People, ch. XXIV.
WRIGHT, C. D., Industrial Evolution of the United States, chs. X-XI.
WRIGHT, H. C., American Progress, ch. XII.
Fourteenth Census of the United States, Manufactures: Ohio.
Report of the State Inspectors of Factories in Ohio.
Statistical Abstract of the United States.
CHAPTER IX
TRANSPORTATION
Problem I. How the early trading posts developed into commercial centers
In our early colonial history, trading posts were usually estab- lished at the head of navigation, as at Hartford on the Con- necticut, Albany on the Hudson, and Richmond on the James. From these centers individual traders pushed still farther west, bartering with the Indians for furs. In this way the traders became the pioneers in the westward movement. They explored the unknown regions, discovered the best means of reaching the interior, and led the van of colonization and settlement.
So in the early days of the Ohio country, the first trading posts were established along the waterways where the Indian trails touched the rivers or Lake Erie. This explains the origin of Cincinnati on the Ohio River, of Columbus on the Scioto, and of Cleveland and Toledo on Lake Erie. Each of these cities was first established as a trading post, and because of its favor- able location with reference to navigation and trade with the interior, each developed into an important commercial center.
Problem II. How Ohio's roads were built
Buffalo paths were the first Ohio roads. The paths made by these animals through the dense forests became Indian trails. The most important trails ran north and south, connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River. The Indian trails were far enough from the streams to avoid swamps and lowlands, hence the trails were "highways." These early trails followed by the red men in pursuit of game became the routes used by the pioneers and explorers, who in turn prepared the way for traders and settlers.
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Thus the early roads were only cleared paths through the forests. Trees were felled, the brush was cut, and the road was made. If the trail ran through a swamp, trees would be felled and a corduroy road built by laying the logs side by side. The corduroy road kept the heavy vehicles from sinking into the mud, but it was most uncomfortable for the travelers. Since there were no bridges over the streams, the horses had to be
FIG. 134. Section of the National Road, near Zanesville, Ohio
This well-built macadamized highway is in marked contrast to the early roads used by the pioneers. For many years the construction of roads was left to the counties and townships. Recently Ohio has followed the example of New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York by adopting the state-aid plan. The state contributes a part of the cost of improving the more important highways, and exercises some supervision over their construction. The increased use of motor vehicles has greatly aided the movement for improved roads, with better surfaces and grades and easier curves
driven across at the fords, where the water was shallow. Thus a journey over these roads was full of danger and hardship.
With the introduction of the sawmill, plank roads came into use. These were followed by graveled pikes, and these in turn by roads covered with broken stone, asphalt, or brick. To en- courage the building of roads, Ohio followed the example of other states by chartering turnpike companies. These com- panies were authorized to construct roads, and to collect charges or tolls from the persons who used them. At the points where tolls were collected, a gate was placed across the road. This gate consisted of a pole armed with pikes, so hung as to turn
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upon a post; hence the toll road was called a turnpike. In 1830 Ohio had about 300 miles of pikes, the longest of which extended from Sandusky to Columbus. In southwestern Ohio many of the present roads between the cities are the old pikes.
FIG. 135. Modern road-making
An engineer named Macadam who lived in America during the Revolution gave his name to the type of road commonly built today. The macadamized road consists of two or more layers of broken stone, with binder and a finishing coat of screenings, tar, or asphalt. The steam road-roller shown in the picture is used to crush and lock the stones together. What is the advantage of using tar or asphalt for the surface coat?
The most famous turnpike was not built by a private com- pany, but by the United States government itself. This "Na- tional Pike" or Cumberland Road was begun during Jefferson's administration in order to open up the public lands in Ohio and the West. Starting at Cumberland, Maryland, the National Road ran westward, following for part of the distance Brad- dock's old military route, until it reached the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. From this point the road was
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extended due west through Zanesville, Columbus, and Spring- field, Ohio, thence to Indianapolis and Terra Haute, Indiana, until it finally came to an end at Vandalia, Illinois (see Fig. 31).
This road was eighty feet in width, built of broken stone, upon a stone foundation. It connected the Ohio wilderness with the East, and soon thousands of settlers were pouring along this highway into central Ohio. "Old America seems to be breaking up and moving westward," wrote one traveler as he passed along this road in 1817. "We are seldom' out of sight, as we travel on this grand track toward the Ohio, of family groups, behind and before us."
Problem III. How the roads aided the settlement of Ohio
In those early days, Ohio land was cheap as well as fertile, and this cheap land was the magnet which drew settlers west- ward. Until 1820 government land sold at two dollars an acre, while after that year the price was only $1.25 an acre. To thousands of Europeans, as well as to our own people, these cheap lands beckoned like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The close of the Napoleonic wars left Europe stag- gering under an enormous burden of debt and taxes. Beginning about 1815, thousands of Englishmen, Irishmen, and Germans came to our shores to swell the stream of settlers pouring across the Alleghenies.
As these men traveled westward through the rich farming regions of Pennsylvania and Ohio, they were amazed at the prosperity which they saw. "This be a main queer country," said a Yorkshireman who with his family was on his way to Zanesville, Ohio. "This be a main queer country, for I have asked the laboring folks along the road how many meals they eat in a day, and they all said three and sometimes four, if they wanted them. And only think, sir, many of these people asked me to eat and drink with them. We can't do it in Yorkshire, sir, for we have not enough for ourselves."
The Conestoga wagon (Fig. 136), named from the Pennsyl- vania town where it was first built, was the vehicle commonly
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used by the western settlers. This wagon had a curved bottom higher at either end than in the middle, which enabled it to trav- erse the rough roads more safely than the old straight-bed wagon. Its wheels were strongly built with tires from four to six inches in width; the framework above was covered with canvas, so that a caravan of these wagons looked like a fleet of ships mounted on wheels. Each wagon was drawn by six or eight horses. These land fleets brought great loads of freight over the National Road to Ohio. The prod- ucts of Ohio's farms -sheep, cattle, and hogs-were in turn FIG. 136. The Conestoga wagon driven over this road This illustration is from a photograph of a Conestoga wagon built in Ohio and now in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society to eastern markets. Taverns and stage stops were established along the route, and the counties bor- dering the National Road soon became the most populous part of Ohio.
Besides the National Road there were two other principal routes by which settlers moved into Ohio. One of these was the famous Wilderness Road, laid out by Daniel Boone through Tennessee and Kentucky to the Ohio River, where it con- nected with the trail northward to Lake Erie. A third route, the last to be developed, was the Mohawk Valley Trail from New York to Lake Erie. The Erie Canal, opened in 1825, followed this route for a considerable part of its course.
In a few cases, to encourage the opening of roads in Ohio, grants of land were made by the government in the same way that land was afterwards given to encourage the building of railroads. An example of this was the grant to Colonel Ebenezer
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Zane, who built the road known as Zane's Trace. This ran through Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe to Maysville on the Ohio River. It was the chief route for settlers moving into southeastern Ohio and Kentucky. In 1810 the counties border- ing Zane's Trace contained one fourth of the people of Ohio.
FIG. 137. Rocky River Bridge
This bridge is on the main highway approaching Cleveland from the west. This is a modern concrete bridge of the arch type frequently used where a movable bridge is not required. What other kinds of bridges have you seen?
Problem IV. How the steamboat aided western trade
The first New England settlers in Ohio came over the Alle- gheny Mountains to the Ohio River, where they built boats and floated downstream to Marietta in 1788. The Ohio River soon became a highway for settlers in southeastern Ohio. The first steamboat on the Ohio was the New Orleans, which made the trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in 1811. This boat was a small side-wheeler and burned wood. The first steamboats on the Ohio River were regarded as doubtful ventures, but six years later there were twenty-five steamers on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Freight rates were high, and at first the steamboats were used chiefly for passenger traffic. The Ohio country shipped downstream great quantities of cheese, dried
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fruit, pork, cider, and whisky, to be exchanged at New Orleans for sugar and cotton, the two great southern staples.
Lake Erie was late in becoming a commercial highway. It was not until 1818 that the first steamer on Lake Erie, Walk- in-the-Water, made her appearance. Walk-in-the-Water was
FIG. 138. Steamer City of Buffalo
135 feet long and carried 100 people. Within a century mar- velous changes have replaced this pioneer boat with passenger (Fig. 138) and steam freighters of great size. The advantages of cheap lake freight have contributed much to the prosperity of Ohio.
Problem V. How canal construction aided the development of Ohio
The completion of the Erie Canal in New York opened an easy route to the West by way of Lake Erie. Settlers from New England now made their way through New York State, following the Erie Canal to Buffalo, where they embarked upon Lake Erie. This migration led to the rapid settlement of northern Ohio. Lake trade and commerce developed rapidly. Northern Ohio became a ship-building region, and in 1824 the first steamboat was built in this section.
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The influence of the Erie Canal spread to Ohio, which began canal construction before the famous New York canal was completed. The north-to-south waterways in Ohio rendered canal-building easy. The Ohio and Erie Canal was constructed from Cleveland to Portsmouth, and the Miami and Erie Canal
FIG. 139. Piers constructed for lake traffic
This view shows the terminals of the Cleveland and Buffalo line, and the Detroit and Cleveland line, at the foot of Ninth Street, Cleveland
from Cincinnati to Toledo. Governor De Witt Clinton of New York had supervised the building of the Erie Canal, and in recognition of this he was invited to the ceremonies which marked the beginning of work on the Ohio and Erie Canal. He came by steamboat to Cleveland, where he took stage for Newark. On July 4, 1825, Governor Clinton lifted the first spadeful of earth on the Licking Summit, while to Governor Morrow of Ohio fell the honor of digging the second spadeful. Eight years later the first fleet of three canal boats arrived from Cincinnati. These were big barges, attached by long tow ropes to mules driven along the shore of the canal. One enthusiastic onlooker said: "There is a real artificial
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river, hundreds of miles long, hand-made of the best material, water-tight, no snags or rocks or other imperfections, durability guaranteed."
The completion of Ohio's two canals, with their branches, gave the state 800 miles of navigable waters within its own borders. The entire system was finished in 1845 at a total cost to the state of about $16,000,000. The canals brought rapid growth to the interior towns, as well as to the shipping ports on the lakes and rivers. They drew thousands of settlers to the state, and furnished an outlet for the products of their farms. The grain and cattle from Ohio's farms moved east- ward in a tide that was flowing from April to December. Ohio's commerce increased enormously, but her canals were to have a comparatively brief existence. Canal traffic was safe and cheap, but slow and closed by ice during several months of each year. Soon a new invention appeared, the railroad, and its faster and better mode of transportation eventually made the canals obsolete.
Problem VI. How the lake ports became important shipping centers
Ship-building on Lake Erie began during the War of 1812. In order to win his famous naval victory at Put in Bay, young Commodore Perry first had to create a fleet. He brought ship- builders, naval stores, guns, and ammunition for a distance of 400 miles through the wilderness to Erie, Pennsylvania. Here he cut down trees from the forest, and built his little fleet of nine vessels. In later years many sailing vessels were con- structed in Lake Erie shipyards at Toledo, Lorain, Ashtabula, and Cleveland. The construction of Ohio's canals rapidly increased the freight and passenger traffic on Lake Erie, and these lake ports became important shipping centers (Fig. 139).
The first freighters on Lake Erie were large sailing vessels, which carried freight more cheaply than the small side-wheel steamers. In 1880 the first steel vessel on the Great Lakes was built at Cleveland. Today all of the lake ports of northern 0
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Ohio have shipyards for the construction of steel ships. Lorain has the largest dry-dock on the Great Lakes, and other large shipyards are located at Cleveland, Toledo, and Ashtabula. The modern lake freighter is a special development in freight- carrying vessels found in no other region. It is built by first laying the keel, then attaching the side ribs, to which steel
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