USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Five > Part 17
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
and the operation performed under the pleadings and heart-rending cries of the victim. It is a pleasure to note that among the earliest users of chloroform as an anesthetic in this country was Professor Richard Lee Howard, of Columbus, Ohio. His first adminis- tration occurred in January, 1849, less than two months after its anesthetic properties were discovered by Dr. J. Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh, Scotland.
While we find in anesthesia, general and local, an inestimable boon to rob surgery of its terrors, we find in asepsis the greatest life-saving agency that human intelligence has ever produced. It has made possible that which was impossible, made safe that which was fraught with danger, opened up new avenues for exploitation and enlarged the field of surgery far beyond the most exaggerated expectations of the most optimistic dreamer. In anesthesia and asepsis we find the golden panoply of modern surgery, a panoply thati brings it favor in the eyes of man.
Then in a class by itself we come to the great dis- covery of Roentgen, which not only illuminates the body but has healing potency as yet only to a slight degree made manifest.
Notwithstanding all this learning and refinement, all these discoveries and revelations of the hidden secrets of life and nature, the old pioneer doctors knew some things that we do not know, and knew many things better than we now know them. The progressive doctor of those days used the means at his command with a purpose and to an extent that went far toward counterbalancing the improved methods of to-day The patient's tongue had a meaning to him, a meaning
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
that is almost wholly lost to us. It conveyed to him a hundred messages as to the condition of the system at large, special organs, the various secretions. In the temperature of the body, as revealed by the touch, he found much to enlighten him; a pungent dry heat meant one thing, a moist bland heat another, and so on. He drew many inferences from the condition of the skin, the eyes, the facial expression, the functions, the physical properties of the secretions and excretions, and from the pulse, of which there were more varieties and finer distinctions than would seem possible. All this he cultivated with great assiduity and profited by it. "A brilliant eye" as an indication of malignant disease, a sympton which the writer picked up from an old book, has done more to help him reach a correct diagnosis in some obscure deep-seated disorders than any other means of which he is aware. It behooves us, then, as advanced physicians, to "hold to the one and not despise the other."
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OHIO AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ON THE GREAT LAKES
BY HARVEY DANFORTH GOULDER
Harvey Danforth Goulder was born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 7, 1853, and received his education in that city. Admitted to the bar in 1875, he became an active and prominent member of his profession, giving particular attention to maritime, insurance and corporation law. He is especially known for his identification with movements in the interest of improving the conditions of navigation on the Great Lakes .- THE EDITORS.
O F utmost importance in the material develop- ment of Ohio has been, in constantly increas- ing measure, the remarkable waterways system of the Great Lakes. It is said that ninety per cent of urban population in cities over ten thousand is along waterways. The waterways came first, but natural advantage furnishes the oppor- tunity only and credit may not be stinted to the men who have turned opportunity into advantage and advantage into enduring results.
In 1678, Cavalier de La Salle, landing at the mouth of the Niagara River, secured from the chiefs of the Seneca Indians permission to build a vessel to exploit these inland waters, and built the Griffin of about forty-five tons, the first cargo vessel, launched in May, 1679. She carried two square sails on her fore- mast and a triangular lateen on her mainmast, and has been mistakenly spoken of as a schooner, although that rig was not in use for thirty years or more after her launching.
A little hamlet at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, just above Niagara Falls on the American side, became, through the building of the Griffin, the first shipyard on the Great Lakes. She sailed on August 7, 1679, reached Green Bay, off Lake Michigan, and there La Salle, before setting out on his exploration of the Mississippi valley, loaded the Griffin with furs and sent her on a return voyage to the foot of Lake Erie. She was never heard from again, and the disappearance of this first freight ship remains a mystery of the Great Lakes.
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Years passed before any other vessel was built of which there is record, although there is mention of two small vessels, the Gladwyn and the Beaver, as lying at anchor in the Detroit River during the siege of Detroit by Pontiac in 1763. In fact, nearly three cen- turies elapsed after the discovery of Columbus before navigation was taken up in vessels between the Falls of Niagara and Sault Ste. Marie. The meager commerce continued confined to trade in furs, converging at Montreal, the head of ocean navigation on the St. Lawrence, and carried on in canoes or batteaux, in the handling of which frail craft the voyageurs attained almost incredible skill and power of endurance, being able to paddle all day seemingly without fatigue.
It is remarkable to know that the first American vessel after the Griffin, just before the year 1800, found business lacking on Lake Erie and was conveyed down around Niagara Falls to Lake Ontario for the purpose of getting earnestly into the business of our inland marine commerce. In 1805, Buffalo was made a port of entry, yet it was not until 1817 that her fleet had grown to the number of seven vessels, with combined tonnage of four hundred and fifty-nine tons, and the total tonnage of Lake Erie had reached two thousand and sixty-seven tons, ranging from ten to ninety-nine tons, except two leviathans of one hundred and two and one hundred and thirty-four tons. The trend of Lake carriage was westward, where the farmers, millers, and other producers sent their products from the East, but there went with all this a great movement of settlers westward.
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We may take the year 1840 as marking the turn when there had come such development in the states bordering the Lakes that the balance of business first started feebly eastward, thereafter to increase in great volume. In 1855, Chicago was shipping sixteen million bushels of grain eastward. In that year the Sault Canal opened Lake Superior to through navigation with the lower Lakes. The Great Lakes marine, as we know it, about that time entered upon its vigorous career, against the arguments of so great a statesman as Henry Clay, who thought projecting commerce up through Lake Superior was chimerical and it might be as well to project commerce to the moon. And years later Proctor Knott made his well-known speech about Duluth, the Zenith City, the future great, in ridicule of serious commercial consideration of that region. Yet in steady progression of improvement of channels and ships and facilities, it has come that more than one-half of the efficient tonnage under the Ameri- can flag is employed on the Great Lakes; that the Government has spent something over $100,000,000 in improvement of channels and harbors on the Great Lakes; that the saving in freight over any other means of conveyance reaches in a single year approximately the whole cost of Government improvements from the beginning; that the ton mileage service on the Lakes equals more than twenty-five per cent of the total ton mileage service of all the railroads of the United States; that the cost per ton mile for transportation on the Lakes is about ten per cent of the average cost by rail all over the United States, and does not exceed twenty-five per cent of such cost on the most favored
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
railroad in the world-that is to say, that the Great Lakes system has furnished, as it does and will, the cheapest and most efficient transportation known in the world.
Ohio has enjoyed, to a singular degree, the advan- tages of this waterway system. This has been due to geographical location; to the fact that Ohio and its neighbors south and east have had coal and limestone, and the Northwest has furnished iron ore, which in the economies of transportation have been required to meet in Ohio for their assembling, or to pass through Ohio and Ohio ports to other assembling and consum- ing points. In the early years, before the great develop- ment of iron ore deposits in the Northwest, we utilized to advantage the lean native ores in this State in the manufacture of pig iron, having then the iron ore, coal, and limestone; and this early built up in Mahoning valley, reaching down to the Pittsburg district, an industry important in its day and potential as the pioneer of greater business which followed; while the ports on the south shore of Lake Erie grew in the ship- ment of coal, the receipt and distribution of iron ore, the receipt of lumber, and the receipt and shipment of grain, until, in 1910, the total receipts and shipments of these ports aggregated 56,437,686 tons.
Along with this flourished the business of ship- building. The native forests of Northern Ohio fur- nished the finest quality of oak timber, and supplied the demand until, about 1890, steel had supplanted wood in the construction of Lake vessels. After that period the connection of Ohio with the business, geographically, commercially, economically, and from
SAMUEL LIVINGSTON MATHER
Born in Middletown, Conn., July 1, 1817; graduated from Wesleyan University, in that place, 1835; came to Cleveland in 1843 and was admitted to the bar, but did not practice; an incorporator, first secretary and treasurer, and subsequently president, of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, which mined and transported to Lake Erie the first cargo of Lake Superior iron ore (1853); conspicu- ously identified with other representative enterprises- industrial, railway, and financial; died October 8, 1890.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
ЯЗНТАМ ИОТZDNIVII JHUMAZ
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the 11 transportation have been required mert to OWis for their assembling, or to pass throu Ohio aad Olre ports to other assembling and consut ing point In the early years, before the great develey ment of iron ore deposits in the Northwest, we utiliz to advantage the lean native ores in this State in t manufacture che iron, having then the iron ore, coa and limestone and this early built up in Mahon valley, reaching . to the Pittsburg district, industry important o ils day and potential as t pioneer of sre one which followed; while tl port on the so oh where of Lake Erie grew in the ship ment of coal, the ment and distribution of iron ore the receipt of lumber, and the receipt and shipmen of grain, until, in 1910, the total receipts and shipment of these ports aggregated 56,437,686 tons.
Along with this flourished the business of ship- building. The native forests of Northern Ohio fur- nished the finest quality of oak timber, and supplied the demand umtil, about 1890, steel had supplanted wood in the construction of Lake vessels. After that period the connection of Ohio with the business, geographically, commercially, economically, and from
,
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
established prestige, gave the supremacy to Ohio in the building of ships, just as these had given to Ohio command of the commercial business of the Great Lakes, all the result of a combination of habit, experi- ence, and ability of the men engaged, uniting with geographical and economical advantages-a combina- tion which compelled results.
Considering the influence of the Great Lakes in connection with the growth of our State, we may go back to early conditions. When DeWitt Clinton in 1817 revived the project of the Erie Canal, which was completed in 1825, the cost of transporting products from Buffalo to Montreal was $30 per ton, and the returning transportation varied from $60 to $75 per ton. The expense from Buffalo to New York was stated as $100 per ton, and the length of passage twenty days. An economist stated: "Upon the very route from which the heaviest and cheapest products of the West are now sent to market, the cost of transpor- tation equalled nearly three times the market value of wheat in New York, six times the value of corn, twelve times the value of oats, and far exceeded the value of most kinds of cured provisions." New York's struggle for commercial supremacy turned to her advantage on the building of the Erie Canal in connection with the Great Lakes. The lesson learned and taught by New York was not lost upon our State. In 1825, the year New York completed her Erie Canal, Ohio began the canal system connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River and with various points throughout the State by branches. The main canal was completed in 1832, and, with tributaries, obtained a total length
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
of nearly nine hundred miles. In 1826, Pennsylvania followed, with an improvement, partly railroad and partly canal, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, reaching Lake Erie with a canal having a terminus at Erie, Pennsylvania, with branches to connect with the Ohio Canal. Indiana built the Wabash and Erie Canal, connecting its interior with the Maumee River at Toledo. These canals, according to some current opinion, may now have served their usefulness, but in their day and for their purpose they were the only agency whereby goods could be transported cheaply, and their effect in building up the internal commerce of the country was so important as to have been easily the dominant force. The Wabash and Erie Canal made Toledo for many years the chief shipping point for corn, as it opened up the fertile corn belt of Indiana and gave it an egress to market through Lake Erie shipment. Milan was for years the chief wheat center of Ohio. Caravans brought wheat to be shipped by vessels eastward, so numerous that it was necessary to exercise patrol to keep them in line and control their turns in unloading.
Until the close of the Civil War little had been done by the general Government in the development of Lake transportation. Less than $3,000,000 had been appropriated for harbor improvements on the Great Lakes up to 1866. In 1829, the Canadian government had constructed the Welland Canal, with original limitation of seven and one-half feet draught. Pres- sure through Northern Ohio, and generally in the whole direction of east and west trade, against the limita- tions imposed by natural conditions, became more and
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
more insistent. The increase of shipping, following the canaling of the States, had been rapid. Before the Erie Canal was opened, the tonnage above Niagara Falls, in custom house measurement, consisted of three steamers and fifty-four sailing craft, with a total ton- nage of 2,449 tons. In 1830 it exceeded 16,000 tons; in 1840, 55,000 tons; by 1862 it had reached 383,000 tons, as contrasted with our 2,363,742 tons of 1911.
The history of the development, and its far-reaching and profound effect on the industries of this country, reads like a romance. From its infantile start, scarce a half century ago, this has been the mighty force to place the United States forward in the steel industry, with our own State in the forefront of the movement and in its direct benefits.
It will be interesting to rapidly sketch this in some detail. Richness and abundance of the iron ore deposits of the Lake Superior region was the impelling motive for the construction of the Sault Canal, which had been agitated in a more or less desultory fashion for many years. Congress had in the beginning taken very unkindly to the suggestion of the construction of a canal around the rapids of St. Mary's River at Sault Ste. Marie, the great Henry Clay, as already stated, regarding it as beyond the range of the remotest settle- ments to be looked for in the United States and saying that one might as well speak of commerce extension to the moon. It was not until it was forcibly brought home to Congress that by no other means could this great mineral treasury be unlocked, that an act was passed by Congress in 1852 granting to Michigan seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of public land
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
to be given to any company that would build the canal. The St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal Company was formed to undertake the work. It is an interesting circum- stance that the company could have bought that area of public land for practically less money than it took to construct the canal, but they had the valuable priv- ilege of selecting whatever they chose from lands not yet thrown open to the market, a selection wisely exercised later to the great advantage of the company, as for example, the site of the famous Calumet and Hecla copper mine was located upon the lands selected by the company.
The completion of this canal in 1855 rapidly over- turned the prophecies of Clay and those who shared his belief. Up to that time everything had to be por- taged around the Rapids, and obviously but little business could be done through such a broken means of communication. Iron ore, which had been moved with great difficulty from the mines at Marquette, had to be dumped on a little dock at the Sault, carried in tiny tram-cars around the Rapids, and reloaded upon little vessels at the foot of the Rapids. Obviously this was an unduly expensive process and militated against any considerable movement. But the facts were obvious, the necessity of cheap and efficient transportation was seen, and the increase in facilities on the Lakes sym- pathetically followed in increase of vessel dimensions, of channels, and of terminal facilities, and no single accomplishment in a constructive way has meant so much to water-borne commerce as the building of this canal.
FAYETTE BROWN
Born in Trumbull County, Ohio, December 17, 1823; educated in the schools of Jefferson and Gambier, Ohio, and engaged in commercial business, removing in 1851 to Cleveland; paymaster in the United States army during the Civil War; identified with very important productive interests, especially in the iron industry, and became one of the foremost iron men of the West; died January 20, 1910.
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THE RISE AND PROGRES
ИМОЯЯ АТТАТАЯ
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The completion of this canal in 1855 rapidly om turned the prophekes of Clay and those who shirt hi Debef. If w the alue everything had to be por Laged drouet o Rarely, and obviously but litu birdno- omMi is Su uuugh such a broken means to consuni f lance which had been moved with minex at Marquette, had 50 A the Sault, carried in tim So 4b and reloaded upon line Rapids Obviously this was an andan = = and militated against any considerable mr xman. But the facts were obvious, the necessity of dessand efficient transportation was seen, and the wowwin in facilities on the Lakes sym- pathetically followed la increase of vessel dimensions, of channels, and ot terminal facilities, and no sing accomplishment in a constructive way has meant 0 much to water-borne commerce as the building of this canal.
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OF AN AMERICAN STATE
Grain continued the largest item in Lake commerce, and it took a long time for ore to displace it from the leadership. The receipts of grain and flour at Buffalo in 1866 reached 1,500,000 tons; the receipts of lumber at Chicago about 1,400,000 tons; while the iron ore receipts at all Lake Erie ports were less than 300,000 tons, with coal tonnage but a little greater.
Coincident with the completion of the Sault Canal came a wider view of the Government of its duty toward waterways and their inseparable terminals. Lock dimen- sions at the Sault were three hundred and fifty feet long, seventy feet wide, and twelve feet deep, but few harbors could accommodate a boat drawing twelve feet, and there were obstacles in the connecting channels. The Civil War delayed internal improvements, but at its close attention was compelled to this development and its profound significance to the entire country, and proj- ects for harbor and channel depths of twelve feet were prepared and executed, and demand arose and became general for a sixteen-foot channel throughout the chain of Lakes. This was met by the construction of a new lock at the Sault to overcome the entire difference of level of some eighteen feet by one single lift, completed in 1881 at a cost of $2,200,000. To take full advantage of this lock, it was necessary to dredge and deepen places in St. Mary's and Detroit rivers, and through St. Clair Flats. Such a general improvement was completed in 1884, and commerce increased with giant strides. Iron ore shipments increased from 300,000 tons in 1866 to 2,300,000 tons in 1884, while the coal movement had grown from practically nothing to nearly 4,000,000 tons. The effect on cost of transporta-
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
tion justified the expenditures made. In 1866 the freight rate on iron ore was $3 per ton; in 1884 it was $1.35 per ton. The rate on wheat from Chicago to Buffalo was brought down from nine cents in 1866 to two and one-quarter cents in 1884.
All this led to further continuous development, and the completion of the sixteen-foot channel through the Lakes had no sooner been finished than it demonstrated the wisdom of the Government expenditure in the great gain to the country of further improvements to meet the increasing demands of commerce. Here, fortunately for us all, the Government had in service on the Lakes a man of prophetic vision, who had served with great distinction throughout the Civil War, General O. M. Poe. He saw, perhaps earlier and more clearly than others, the need and the opportunities for development for the future, and endeavored to provide facilities that might care for its indefinite expansion, and, grasp- ing more fully and surely the situation, and doing more than any other man to provide in the interest of this commerce, he saw that he had ceased to be a prophet, because the dream of to-day became the sober reality of to-morrow in the wonderful development of Lake commerce. He conceived the idea of a twenty-foot channel throughout the whole Lake system, cul- minating in a new lock at the Sault, eight hundred feet long, one hundred feet wide, with twenty-two feet of water over the miter sills, and a new channel through St. Mary's River, saving about eleven miles in navi- gable distance and making it practicable for night navigation, theretofore held too dangerous.
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The new lock, known as the Poe lock, was opened to Lake navigation in 1896. In the meantime the Cana- dian government has constructed a canal having a lock nine hundred feet long and sixty feet wide, opened to navigation in 1895. General Poe dared the great lock on the assumption that it would accommodate in one lockage four ships of the greatest size, and was himself astonished that when it was ready for service there were already ships of such size that two of the largest could not lock through together. In 1890 the ore movement reached 9,000,000 tons. The facili- ties which General Poe so bountifully provided have long been taxed. Work is now under way on an addi- tional lock one thousand, three hundred and fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide, and there is urgent need of it even before it can be completed. Since 1896, the traffic has grown by leaps and bounds, and the move- ment of one year is no criterion what the next is to be. The 20,000,000 mark was reached in 1901, to be exceeded by 7,000,000 tons the next year, an increase in itself of more ore than was moved in any one year on the Lakes up to 1899, and of more ore than was moved in all the years up to 1874. By 1907 it had reached the amazing total of 42,000,000 tons. How can one adequately provide for a commerce which increases with such astounding rapidity? There is needed for it a system of great elasticity, but fortunately General Poe founded a base capable of indefinite expan- sion.
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