History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 45

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

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CHAPTER XXXI.

THE OHIO CANAL.

LICKING SUMMIT THE PLACE OF BEGINNING-THE OPENING CELEBRATION-LOAN OF FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS NEGOTIATED-COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK-THE FIRST CONTRACTS-THE GRANVILLE FEEDER-THE LENGTH AND COURSE OF THE CANAL-ITS REVENUE AND MANAGEMENT.

"We make of Nature's giant powers

The slaves of human Art." -Whittier.

A LARGE majority of the people of Ohio know but little at present about the great Ohio canal, and the interest taken in it at the commencement of the work. It was considered one of the greatest undertakings of the age, and indeed, was the begin- ning of that grand series of internal improvements which has greatly assisted in placing Ohio among the foremost States of the Union. The following history of this great work is taken mostly from the writings of Colonel John Noble, one of the con- tractors in the work, and from those of William Wing, esq., deceased. Mr. Wing was also a con- tractor on the canal, and died in Columbus, Ohio, February 13, 1878, in his seventy-ninth year. He was an honorary member of the Licking County Pioneer society, and contributed liberally to its historical records. He was well versed in the pioneer history of Central Ohio, and has left be- hind him writings of much historical value.

As the canal had its beginning in Licking :

county, it is eminently proper that its history should appear in this work.

Before the building of the canal this county had no outlet for produce, except by wagons to the lake, or by wagons to the Muskingum river, and thence by boat to New Orleans. The country was full of produce for which there was no market. Ham was worth three cents per pound; eggs, four cents per dozen; flour, one dollar per hundred; whiskey, twelve and a half cents per gallon, and other things proportionately cheap.

The commissioners appointed by the legislature to carry on the work appointed Judge D. S. Bates,

an experienced engineer of the State of New York, and in their wisdom, made "Licking Summit," in this county, the place of beginning. They then gave notice to all concerned throughout Ohio and the adjoining States, that a commencement of the excavation would be made on the fourth of July, 1825.

Samuel Forrer, of Dayton, was appointed princi- pal acting engineer; John Forrer, local engineer on the Summit, and he immediately prepared a few rods of ground, where the line of the canal would pass through a field, for the public demonstration.

The invited guests included many of the not- ables of the State and nation, among whom were Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York; Messrs. Rathburn and Lord; General Edward King, of Chillicothe; General Sanderson, of Lancaster; Governor Morrow, of this State; Ex-Governor Worthington; Hon. Thomas Ewing, who was the orator of the day, and many others. Governor Clinton was expected to throw out the first spade- ful of earth. This gentleman had proven himself the great friend of internal improvements, having been the principal promoter in the building of the Erie canal in his own State.

A correspondence between leading friends of the enterprise resulted in the appointment of a committee to carry out the wishes of the commis- sioners. This committee consisted of Judge Wil- son and Alexander Holmes, of Licking, and Judge Elnathan Schofield, one of the earliest surveyors in this section, and John Noble, of Fairfield county. This committee, at their first meeting, engaged Gottleib Steinman, a hotel keeper of Lancaster, to furnish a dinner, upon the ground, for the invited guests; and as many more as would

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pay for a dinner ticket, at one dollar and fifty cents a ticket. This proved to be a losing business for Steinman. It happened to be wet two or three days before the Fourth, and as there were no houses near the site of the entertainment, rough booths were constructed in the woods; tables and seats were made of plank, hauled from saw-mills at a considerable distance from the place. All the fancy part of the dinner, including pastry, etc., were prepared at Lancaster, twenty-two miles south. The entire preparation was made under the most unfavorable circumstances. The roasts and broils were prepared on the ground. The Fourth opened fine and clear; the dinner was good, and enjoyed by all that partook; but of the thousands who at. tended, many prepared for the emergency by bringing a hamper of provisions with them.

The ceremonies began according to programme. Governor Clinton received the spade, thrust it into the soil, and raised the first spadeful of earth, amid the most enthusiastic cheers of the assembled thousands.

This earth was placed in what they called a canal wheelbarrow, and the spade was passed to Governor Morrow, a statesman and a farmer. He sank it to its full depth, and raised the second spadeful. Then commenced a strife as to who should raise the next. Captain Ned. King, com- manding the infantry company present from Chilli- cothe, raised the third; then some of the guests of Governor Clinton's company threw in some dirt, and the wheelbarrow being full, Captain King wheeled it to the bank. It is impossible to de- scribe the scene of excitement and confusion that accompanied this ceremony. The people shouted themselves hoarse. The feeling was so great that tears fell from many eyes.

. The stand for the speaking was in the woods. The crowd was so great that one company of cavalry was formed in a hollow square, around the back and sides of the stand. The flies, after three days' rain, were so troublesome, that the horses kept up a constant stamping, much to the annoy- ance of the crowd. Caleb Atwater, the noted antiquarian, was present, and made the following remark afterward at Lancaster: "I suppose it was all right to have the horses in front of the speaker's stand, for they cannot read, and we can."

Governor Clinton and friends, Governor Mor- row, Messrs. Rathburn and Lord, with many others were invited to Lancaster, where they were handsomely entertained by the citizens. Rathbum and Lord were the men who negotiated the loan of four hundred thousand dollars for Ohio; and the Lancaster bank was the first to make terms with the fund commissioners to receive and dis-

1 burse the money.

The wages for work on the canal were eight dollars for twenty-six working days, or thirty and three-fourth cents per day, from sunrise to sunset The hands were fed well and lodged in shanties, and received their regular "jiggers" of whiskey the first four months.

Micajah T. Williams and Alfred Kelley were the acting commissioners, and proved themselves faith- ful public servants. They were often passing up and down the line, and saw the evil effects of the "jigger" of whiskey. They left notice at each con- tract station that they would not pay estimates monthly if the contractors furnished whiskey on the work-an order that caused much grumbling among a certain class of the men, but it was promptly obeyed by the contractors. A jigger was small, not a gill in measure, but fifty or sixty men taking four of these per day-at sunrise, at ten o'clock, at noon, at four o'clock, and before supper-would exhaust a barrel of whiskey in four or five days. Men from Fairfield, Hocking, Gallia and Meigs counties, and all the country around, came to work on the canal. Farmers and their sons wanted to earn this amount of wages, as it was cash-a very scarce article-and they must have it to pay taxes and other cash expenses.

Before the canal was finished south of the Sum- mit, the north end from Dresden to Cleveland was in operation; and wheat sold on the canal at seventy- five cents per bushel. Corn rose in proportion, and the enemies of the canal, all of whom were large land holders, or large tax payers, began to open their eyes. One of these, a Mr. Shoemaker, of Pickaway county, below Tarlton, was a rich land owner, and had opposed the building of the canal, as it would increase his tax and then be a failure. This gentleman, for such he was, said that his boys, with one yoke of oxen and a farm cart, hauled po- tatoes to Circleville and sold them for forty cents

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per bushel until they had more money than suf- ficed to pay all his taxes for a year. This was an article for which, before this, there was no market, and he was now a convert to improvement. Wheat raised from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel before the canal was finished.

The contracts for building the canal were made soon after breaking the ground at Licking Summit. The first at Newark embraced all the section from the point of breaking ground, south, including the embankment of the Licking Summit reservoir to the deep cut, so called, and there was one section at the south end of the cut let, about this time, to Colonel Noble. At these lettings, statements were posted up for the information of bidders, of the quantity and different kinds of work in each sec- tion, and also their estimates of the value of doing the same. Bidders from New York were present, and obtained some of the heaviest jobs-as the reservoir job and some others. The price of exca- vation and embankment was from nine to thirteen cents per cubic yard; grubbing and clearing, per chain, two to ten dollars, according to circum- stances. But little masonry was let in this division ; and the work here was let about ten per cent. below the engineer's estimates. Colonel Noble probably took his contract on the engineer's estimates, as it was deemed necessary that that section should be finished, in order to afford drainage when the deep cut should be put under contract. It is said that the colonel was at considerable expense in procuring ma- chinery to pull down the large elm trees, of which there were many on the section, and that the at- tempt to get them out in that way was not a success. His contract, therefore, did not prove a profitable one.

The next letting at Newark included the deep cut, so called, and the South Fork feeder. The length of this cut was about three miles. At the deepest place it was about thirty-four feet, descend- ing gradually in either direction to about eight feet at either end, so that it would average about twen- ty-four feet the whole length. It was divided into two sections, and the whole was let at fifteen cents per cubic yard; the north half to Scoville, Hatha- way & Co., of New York, and the south half to Osborn, Rathburn & Co., of Columbus. The first named party sub-let their job to Hampson &

Parkinson, of Muskingum county, who carried it on for a time and abandonded it at very consider- able loss, it is said. The other party, under the firm name of Osborn, Willliams & Co., prosecuted their work to final completion, and undertook the unfinished part of the north section; but they ob- tained, at different times, of the commissioners, an advance on the price originally agreed upon, so that at the close they were paid about thirty cents a yard for the work. Probably the average was twenty-five cents per yard cost to the State.

It is somewant singular, that on the highest part of the cut there was a swamp of a few acres, where the water stood in the spring of the year, and as it was raised by heavy rains, the water flowed from the swamp north to the waters of the Licking, and south to the tributaries of the Scioto. The feeder above mentioned, being mostly common work, was let at low rates, probably below the estimates.

The next work was also let at Newark. It com- menced at the north end of Licking Summit, thence northward to Nashport, including all the heavy work, and the dam at the lower end of the Licking Narrows. The letting embraced some twelve to fifteen locks, two aqueducts and cul- verts, with the usual excavation and embankment. The masonry of the locks was bid in at from two dollars to two dollars and fifty cents per perch of sixteen and one-half cubic feet, which included a lock finished, except the excavation of the pit and embankment around the lock. The other mason- ry was let at proportionate rates, and the other work went very low. There was great competition.

The next letting was at Irville, in Muskingum county; commencing at the north end of the above described work, extending north to Roscoe, upon which there was considerable heavy work let at about the same rates as above, competition being no less.

The next work was let at Lancaster, commenc- ing at the south end of Colonel Noble's job, thence southward to Circleville. This included some heavy work, also. There were some twenty or twenty-five locks, a few culverts and aqueducts, a dam at Bloomfield, and about the usual amount of earth work. All were let at low prices; the first six locks south of Licking Summit at three dollars

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and fifteen cents a perch; the face stone were hauled from the neighborhood of Lancaster, an average distance of eight miles. Lower down, about Carrol, Lockport and Winchester, the locks were about two dollars and fifty cents a perch. The light locks, just above the junction of the main canal with the Columbus feeder, were let at three dollars and twenty-five cents a perch.

At these prices it required the closest economy to do the work without loss. Some of the jobs awarded were abandoned and afterwards re-let at better prices. The price of labor was very low. Wages did not rise above ten dollars per month for four or five years. There was no "eight hour system;" the men worked all day. Very few Irish or other foreigners had arrived at that time, and the work was mostly done by native Americans.

It was a great undertaking for the State to build the canal; and although its working has never paid the interest on its cost, yet, it has, without doubt, paid for itself many times over by the in- creased wealth it brought to the State, and the great increase in values of every marketable thing, cover- ing a large extent of country.

The Granville feeder extended from Licking Summit to Raccoon creek, at Paige's woollen fac- tory, about a mile and a quarter southeast of Gran- ville. In order to have navigation as near Gran- ville as possible, the commissioners agreed to make the feeder navigable for boats as far as Paige's fac- tory, provided the people of Granville would make it navigable from thence to the bridge at the Lan- caster road. This they agreed to do. It involved considerable expense, as a dam, guard-lock, lift- lock and about a half mile of canal had to be built to render it navigable.

A warehouse was erected at the head of navi- gation, and a boat built there by the Troy and Ohio line, under the superintendence of a Mr. Wallace. This is believed to have been the first canal boat built south of Cleveland.

The feeder was used for navigation until the Granville furnace was abandoned in 1838, since which it has become dilapidated and out of re- pair.

The "Grand Canal," as it was first called, passes entirely across the State, connecting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Ohio river. It is

three hundred and six miles long, exclusive of the lateral canal to Columbus, eleven miles, and the Dresden side cut, together with slack-water naviga- tion to Zanesville, seventeen miles more, making in all three hundred and thirty-four miles, includ- ing its various windings. It commences at Cleve- land and passes up the Cuyahoga river to the old portage, between it and the Tuscarawas river; by the city of Akron and over to the Tuscarawas, down whose valley it follows to Massillon, Dover, New Philadelphia, Newcomerstown, Caldersburgh, Coshocton and Dresden, where it leaves the Tus- carawas, or rather the Muskingum as the river is called below Coshocton, and takes a southwesterly direction, passing Nashport, and striking the Lick- ing river just beyond the eastern line of Licking county, passing up that river to Newark; thence up the South fork to Hebron, Deep Cut, Baltimore and Carrol, reaching the Scioto river just within the limits of Pickaway county, eleven miles south of Columbus. From this point it follows the Scioto valley to the Ohio river, passing the towns of Bloomfield, Circleville, Westfall, Chillicothe and Piketon to Portsmouth. It is owned and con- trolled by the State, and is under the immediate supervision of the board of public works, who appoint all its officers and have entire charge of all its affairs. It is divided into three divisions, each of which is in charge of a chief engineer, who looks after repairs and other matters and makes a yearly report to the board. Collectors are stationed at various places along the canal, whose business is to collect tolls and water rent. A specified amout of toll is paid by those who run the boats, both upon the boat and cargo, the rate depending upon the value or quality of the cargo. It varies from two or three mills to two or three cents per mile. The boats are owned by private individ- uals, who have the use of the canal by paying the tolls. Before the days of railroads these boats did a through business, and some of them were "passenger packets," which were lightly and neatly built, and arranged for carrying passengers, and made much quicker time than the freight boats. Since the advent of railroads, however, this class of boats has, of course, disappeared, and those carrying freight now do only a local business, the railroads doing all through business. The boats

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will carry from fifty to eighty tons, and draw from two to three feet of water. Their principal busi- ness now is to transport coal, wheat, building stone and any freight that does not require quick trans- portation.

In 1861 the canal was leased to a company for ten years, and at the end of that time the lease was renewed for ten years, but the company aban- doned the lease in 1878, the State taking posses-

sion again in May, 1879. For several years prior to leasing it the canal had been a heavy yearly expense to the State, the receipts falling much be- low the expenditures; since taking possession again in 1879, however, the receipts have largely exceeded the expenditures, and the State, probably for the first time in the history of this enterprise, is now making money out of it.

CHAPTER XXXII. RAILROADS.

SANDUSKY, MANSFIELD, AND NEWARK-CENTRAL OHIO-BALTIMORE AND OHIO-PAN HANDLE-THE STRAITSVILLE ROAD OHIO CENTRAL.

"The mothers ran out with their children about, From every log cabin they hail;

The wood-chopper he stood delighted to see The law-makers ride on a rail.

The horses and cattle, as onward we rattle, Were never so frightened before."

THERE are four railroads centering in the city of

T Newark, but as three of them are at present con- trolled by one corporation (the Baltimore & Ohio) the number is practically reduced to two-the Balti- more & Ohio and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis; the latter better known as the "Pan Handle." Three of these roads were completed to Newark between the years 1852 and 1855; half a century after the town was laid out.

The Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad was the first one completed to Newark. A por- tion of this road was one of the first built in Ohio-the northern portion. It extended, when completed, from Sandusky City to Newark, a dis- tance of one hundred and sixteen and one-half miles. This road (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio) has had more charters, amendments, con- solidations, reorganizations and adjustments than any in Ohio. It probably never paid expenses, unless it does so under its present management. Very few roads running due north and south, as does this one, have paid for the building. The great travel and carrying business of this country

seems to be east and west, and generally only roads built in conformity with this law, put money in the pockets of the stockholders. The germ of this road sprang into life between Monroeville and Sandusky City, and was chartered March 9, 1835, under the name of the Monroeville & Sandusky City railway. At that early day im- mense freight wagons were doing the carying trade for the country, and Lake Erie was the great outlet for grain and produce for the interior of Ohio. Pork, wheat, whiskey, furs, peltry, and everything else then produced in Ohio, were wagoned to the lake and shipped on vessels for Buffalo and points further east. Portland (San- dusky City) became a great market, or at least, a very important point for Ohio people, and a few enterprising men thought by building a railroad from this point south, they could get this entire freight business from their southern terminal point. When their road was first built wooden rails were used, and the cars were small box concerns, on wooden wheels, and were hauled by horses from Monroeville to Sandusky. It was not long, how- ever, until steam-power superceded horse-power, but for a long time the road bed was "wooden,' that is, the cars run on wooden rails upon which was fastened a piece of strap iron.

On the twelfth of March, 1836, a charter was

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obtained for a road from Mansfield to New Haven. The building of this road interfered some- what with the business of the first road, and yet was of but little value without the co-operation of the first; hence a plan of consolidation was soon agreed upon, the gap between New Haven and Monroeville filled, and the road became one con- tinuous line from Mansfield to Sandusky City, a distance of fifty-four miles. It was then called the Mansfield & Sandusky City railroad.

The Columbus & Lake Erie road was chartered March 12, 1845. This was Newark's first railroad, and extended from Newark to Mansfield, a dis- tance of sixty-two and one-half miles, connecting there with the Mansfield & Sandusky City road, thus opening up direct communication with the lake.

Another corporation, the Huron & Oxford road, extended from Huron to the line of the Monroe- ville & Sandusky City road, a distance of eight miles, and was chartered March 12, 1845.

Each of these companies had stock subscrip- tions and executed separate mortgages. Novem- ber 23, 1853, the three companies consolidated under the name of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad company.

The wooden road-bed is thus described:

"The construction of the road-bed was solid, if a multi- plicity of timbers could make it so. First a mud-sill was laid down lengthwise of the road; strong cross-ties were then spiked on this mud-sill; into these 'gains ' were cut, and these received the wooden rails, sawed to fit them. These rails were about five inches wide at the top, broadening at the bottom where they entered the gains, and were about seven inches high. On these the 'ribbon' was spiked, being a strip of hard wood, about two and a half inches wide, by one inch thick, and on this the strap-iron rail was laid. Spikes were driven through the strap-rail and the ribbon, into the large wooden rail beneath; the heads of the spikes being sunken into 'eyes' in the strap- rails, leaving a smooth surface for the wheels. This super- structure required fully three times as much timber as the pres- ent system of ties and iron rails."

About a year before the consolidation of the three roads forming the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark road, the Columbus & Lake Erie road was finished to Newark. This was one of the greatest events in the history of this city; second only to the opening of the canal.

The building of this road had been agitated nearly twenty years. As early as 1834-5, meet-

ings were held by the citizens for the purpose of organization, and to obtain a survey of the route. It was a mighty undertaking, however; the coun- try was yet sparsely settled and the people too poor to engage in such an enterprise, and it was not until ten years later that a charter was ob- tained, and nearly another decade before the road was finally finished for the passage of trains over the entire line.

Under the corporate name of Sandusky, Mans- field & Newark railroad, it was operated but a short time, with little better financial result than under the separate corporations, notwithstanding a new and consolidated mortgage was made and bonds issued. Proceedings were soon commenced in the Erie Common Pleas court, to bring all the creditors into court and sell the road to extinguish the several liabilities. It was found that the value of the road and property would pay but a small portion of the liabilities of the several corpora- tions, and a plan of capitalization and reorganiza- tion was proposed and submitted to the stock- holders and creditors, for an adjustment of the stock and a compromise of the liabilities of the company.

A large number of stockholders and creditors of the several companies had not converted their securities into the consolidated company, and some that had were unwilling to accept the terms of readjustment, and on the eighth of April, 1856, the legislature passed an act to aid in carrying out this adjustment, entitled "an act for the relief of the stockholders and creditors of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad company."

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 45

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826