History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 23

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 23

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the misconduct of a few unfaithful officers and agents aroused public opinion to a belief that our whole system of public im- provements, including our canals and roads, were managed to promote plunder and political party ascendancy. So thoroughly disgusted and offended did the people be- come at the revelations of an investiga- tion into their management, that it was determined to rid the State of the cause of so much expense and corruption. The General Assembly, under the force of this public opinion, on the 8th day of May, 1861, passed an act which provided for LEASING THE PUBLIC WORKS OF THE STATE.

This was accomplished, and the lease included the transfer of the management of the Maumee and Western Reserve road to the lessees, who took chargeof it in the year 1861.

The lessees, of course, managed the road in a way to produce for them the greatest amount of net profit, and like tenants generally, became negligent in making the repairs provided for in the lease. They collected the tolls with the utmost rigor, but failed to renew the road with a cover- ing of stone when the same was worn out, until the people along the line became so dissatisfied, that they demanded from the General Assembly a repair of the road by the lessees, or a forfeiture of the lease. This dissatisfaction resulted in an act passed March 30, 1868, withdrawing the road from the charge of the lessees and offering the care and management of it to the county commissioners of the counties respectively through which it passed ; each county to have jurisdiction over that portion within its own limits.

The county commissioners of Wood and Sandusky counties, after consultation, declined to take charge of the road, be- cause the lessees had permitted it to be- come so much out of repair. Much talk of suing the lessees by the State for

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breach of the lease, then ensued; finally, the matter was adjusted by the lessees putting on about three thousand dollars in repairs and giving up the road to the charge of the State about June 1, 1870, and ever since the road has remained in charge of the board of public works of the State.

The following is the mention of some of the men of the county prominently in- strumental in procuring the construction and maintenance of the road:

We have already mentioned the names of the settlers at Lower Sandusky, who, in 1821 and 1822 and '23 began to agi- tate the public mind on the subject of having the road constructed. Among these, Jeremiah Everett was conspicuous, for, although the acts of Congress of 1823, giving the State charge of the clearing and making the road, and the sale of land granted by the Indians for the purpose, and the act of the General Assembly of Ohio accepting the trust, had been passed by the concurrent efforts of Mr. Everett and other citizens of Lower Sandusky, Sandusky county did not have a represen- tative at Columbus to represent there the local interests of the vicinity until the year 1825. In this year Jeremiah Everett was elected to the House of Representa- tives of the State, and took his seat as a member on the first Monday in Decem- ber of that year. Important legislative acts were passed during that session, con- cerning the road and the sale of the road lands, and his exertions and influence were highly serviceable in hastening on the work. He was elected again in 1835, and did much to produce that public sen- timent which finally impelled the State to appropriate money to repair and macada- mize the road as provided by the act of 1838.

Rodolphus Dickinson, from the time the question was first agitated, was an ar-

dent advocate for the improvement of the road. When, however, he was made a member of the board of public works in 1836, his influence became more potent on the public mind, and probably no one man did more to have the road improved, and to induce the State to appropriate money for the purpose in a season of great finan- cial depression, than Mr. Dickinson.

McKnight, of Perrysburg, Wood county, was the first superintendent of the road, and commissioner, in 1824, to sell the road lands. He officiated until his death, which occurred January 11, 1831, by acci- dental shooting. Mr. McKnight travelled on the ice in 1820, from what is now San- dusky City to a place then called Orleans, afterwards called Fort Meigs, and now the town of Perrysburg, on the Maumee River. He was clerk of the court in Wood county, an active, well esteemed business man, and has descendants of much respecta- bility now residing near Perrysburg.

John Bell, of Lower Sandusky, succeed- ed Mr. McKnight, who continued to sell the land until all was sold, and superin- tended the road under the direction of the State authorities, until the road was placed in charge of General Patterson, State engineer, about the last of the year 1838. General Bell, however, closed out the sale of the road lands, and made an ac- ceptable report of his administration, set- tled his accounts with the State, and the office was discontinued some time in 1840.

THE ROAD TO FORT BALL.

Although the treaty of Brownstown, A. D. 1808, which provided for the con- struction of the Maumee and Western Re- serve road, provided also for a road, or rather ceded to the United States a tract of land for a "road only," one hundred and twenty feet in width, to run southwardly from Lower Sandusky to the boundary line established by the treaty of Green- ville, little attention seems to have been

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

paid to the construction of this road, either by the United States or the State of Ohio, for no legislation by either can be found upon searching the indexes of legislation of that time or since. But about the years 1827 and 1828, a road southward from Lower Sandusky was cleared through the woods, on a straight line from Wolf Creek south until it struck the bank of the river a few miles below Fort Ball, and then followed the river to Fort Ball, which was at that time an im- portant post next south of Lower San- dusky. Previous to opening this road the travelled track meandered the river all the way between the two places. This old road, which was traversed by portions of General Harrison's army in the War of 1812, was not only crooked and greatly

increased the distance to Fort Ball, but crossed a deep ravine at Old Fort Seneca, the steep hills on either side of which were a terror to all teamsters who were compelled to travel that way. The new road was straight from Wolf Creek to a point above Fort Seneca, and was located so far west of it as to avoid the hills and shorten the distance materially. From the best information now to be had, it is be- lieved that the expense of clearing out and improving this road was borne by the counties of Seneca and Sandusky. Whether this information be accurate or not, the fact remains that the opening of this road was the second and a very important improve- ment, in the way to and from the country south of Lower Sandusky, and greatly facilitated its trade.

CHAPTER XII.

THE OHIO RAILROAD.

Design of the Road-Manner of Building-The Plunder Law-Financial Management-Bankruptcy and Failure.

A LTHOUGH it may at first appear to the reader that a history of improve- ments should not notice such as were never completed, still the design of building this road was so bold for the time at which it originated, as well as for the then finan- cial condition of the country, and it came so near being a success, that some mention of it seems proper. Besides these reasons, the form of the road, and the manner of constructing it, were novel and ingenious, and the financial methods for obtaining money to pay the expenses, are all so well calculated to illustrate the

spirit of the time and the consequences of bad legislation, that a brief record of the enterprise may be of value to legis- lators as well as to financiers, and thus, justify the mention of it in this work.

The Ohio canal, through the eastern portion of the State, and the Miami canal in the west, had developed an im- proved condition of business and increased prices for farm products along the lines. Thither capital and enterprise were at- tracted, and the business and chief markets were found along and near them. But the districts remote from the canals and not fa-

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

vored with a navigable river in their vicin- ity, were stuck in the mud, with a long haul for the marketable products of their farms and factories. The State had contracted millions on millions of debt in the con- struction of these canals, and the people remote from them must, of course, give their labor and sweat for tax money to 'pay the obligations. Under these circum- stances what was more natural than for the people to demand of the State her help to make easy transportation to the markets on these canals. Hence arose a clamor for roads, turnpikes, other canals, and railroads to enable the people located away from the canals, to carry their prod- ucts away. The demand for a more extended and more generally diffused system of internal improvements became imperative. Under this pressure the Gen- eral Assembly, on the 24th day of March, 1837, passed an "act to authorize a loan of the credit of the State of Ohio to rail- road companies, and to authorize sub- scriptions by the State to. the capital stock of turnpike, canal, and slackwater navi- gation companies." This act provided as to railroad companies substantially as fol- lows: That every railroad company that was then, or thereafter might be duly organized, and to the capital stock of which there shall be subscribed an amount equal to two-thirds of its authorized capital, or an amount equal to two-thirds of the esti- mated cost of the road and fixtures, shall be entitled to a loan of credit from the State equal to one-third of such authorized capital, or equal to one-third of the esti- mated cost of such road and fixtures, to be delivered to the company in negotiable scrip or transferrable certificates of stock of the State of Ohio, bearing an annual in- terest not exceeding six per cent., and redeemable at periods not exceeding twenty years, and the State should then receive certificates of stock in the com-

pany for the amount so paid. The pro- visions of this law as to turnpike companies were in substance like those as to railroad companies, with this difference, that on showing the plan of the proposed work, the amount of stock subscribed, and that one-fourth of the stock subscribed had been paid in cash to the treasurer of the company, the Governor should subscribe to the stock of such company for an amount equal to that subscribed by private persons, which was to be paid in install- ments out of the treasury of the State. In like manner the act provided that the Governor should subscribe to the capital stock of canal and slackwater companies an amount equal to one-half that sub- scribed by private persons.

A Solomon or a Solon might have sus- pected that such a law would soon ex- haust the treasury and seriously impair the credit of the State ; they might have sus- pected that companies would soon be very numerous, and that some utopian enter- prise would be undertaken, and that sham subscriptions and false statements of stock paid in would be resorted to in some in- stances for the purpose of drawing money from the State. But if Solomon and Solon had been out in the wilderness and stuck in the mud, where their wisdom and glory could not be known of men, and the laws promised them a way out into the world to bless it, they perhaps would not have cried their condemnation of the law in a very loud voice. Whatever may be said about the wisdom of such a law, prac- tically it served one good purpose, and that was to stimulate all over the State enterprises to improve the means of trans- portation of her products, and facilitate travel and intercourse among the people.

The Ohio Railroad Company was one of the enterprises brought into life by the patronage offered in this statute. It was chartered by act of March 8, 1836, and

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empowered to build a railroad with single or double track, from the east line of the State at some suitable point in Ashtabula county, westwardly through the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Lorain, Huron, Sandusky, Wood, and Lucas, to the Maumee River, and thence to some point on the Wabash and Erie Canal. The act of incorporation carefully provided that if such road passed below the lower rapids of rivers it crossed it should not obstruct navigation. The capital stock of the company was four million dollars, di- vided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and the charter named influential men in each of the counties through which the road was to pass, as commissioners to open books and receive subscriptions to the capital stock. The commissioners named for Sandusky county were, Jesse S. Olmstead, Jacques Hulburd, and Sardis Birchard, all of whom, at that time, were prominent and leading citizens of Lower Sandusky, especially in all matters of finance and public improvement.

The act of incorporation further pro- vided that the money of the company should be paid out of the treasury thereof, on orders drawn on the treasurer, in such manner as should be pointed out by the by-laws of the organization. The reader will see, as the progress of the work went on, that this very reasonable and innocent looking provision for orders on the treas- ury was made to play a very important part in the financial management of the road.

The commissioners to open books and receive subscriptions for stock were em- powered to call the stockholders together, to elect directors, and the directors thus elected to organize the company, by elect- ing president, secretary, and treasurer, etc., so soon as one thousand shares, or one hundred thousand dollars, should be sub- scribed to the capital stock. The exact

date of the organization of the company is not conveniently ascertainable, and in fact is not deemed material to the purpose for which this sketch is written. But, sure it is, Nehemiah Allen was chosen president and Samuel Wilson treasurer. It is also true that surveys had been made, the line of the road established, and that rights of way were secured as early as January 19, 1838, perhaps earlier.

FORM OF THE ROAD.

The form of this railroad is peculiar, and deserves mention in this history, and whatever merits there may be in the plan, and whoever was the author of it (though President Allen is by some supposed to be that person), succeeding railroad en- gineers appear not to have adopted it as a general form for the construction of rail- roads. The base or foundation of this road was to be on piles, or sharpened trunks of white oak or bur-oak trees, about fifteen inches, more or less, driven into the ground by a machine called a pile- driver. This pile-driver was worked by steam (a wag might here interpose and say, so was the whole concern); this same pile-driver worked a horizontal buzz-saw which cut off the piles when thoroughly pounded down, to correspondwith the en- gineer's line for the grade of the road. This pile-driver and sawing-machine was trundled along on rails laid as occasion required, on the top of the piles as they were cut off. These pile-drivers were set to work, one somewhere near Cleveland, and another at the Maumee River oppo- site Manhattan, which place being then the terminus of the Miami canal, was to be the great future city of northwestern Ohio, which Toledo now is. Timber was plenty and cheap in those forests through which the line of the road passed. The pile-drivers went merrily on, booming, puffing, screaming, and pounding through

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the woods, leaving behind them a clear track with two lines of piles cut level and ready for cross ties. The ties were to be laid from pile to pile; on these cross ties were to be laid timbers about eight inches square, an auger hole two inches in diam- eter was then bored through the square timbers or rails, down through the ties and into the pile; into this hole was firmly driven a red cedar bolt or pin about two feet in length, to hold the structure firmly together. On the square timbers thus fas- tened, were to be laid and spiked down the strap rail of iron on which the cars were to be propelled.

Riverius Bidwell, then owner of the water power and mill site in the city, con- tracted to furnish the cedar pins. Ma- chinery, with a turning lathe, was erected and attached to his water power; large contracts were made in Canada and else- where for red cedar timber, and Mr. Bid- well manufactured and had ready for de- livery great piles of the fragrant cedar pins to fasten the superstructure together. Meantime a superb trestle work of solid oak timber was erected across the valley of the Sandusky River, from hill top to hill top on either side. Huge and substan- tial limestone abutments and piers rose out of the waters of the river to receive the woodwork of the bridge, which was located about half way between the Mau- mee and Western Reserve road bridge, and the southern extremity of the island next below; being near one hundred rods below the present iron bridge.

The work of driving the piles was begun at Brooklyn, on the west side of the Cuyahoga River, to work toward the west; also at the Maumee River, opposite Man- hattan, now Northern Toledo, to work eastward.

THE FINANCIERING.

The financial management of the com-

pany deserves particular notice. After the first hundred thousand dollars of stock was subscribed and the company or- ganized, the State, as bound by the act of March 24, 1837, issued in scrip or negoti- able obligations to the company thirty-three and one-third thousand dollars. This scrip could be converted into ready cash, or hypothecated to local banks with the agreement that the bank should redeem or pay the orders of the company to an equal amount of the deposits. The or- ders of the company on the treasury were nicely engraved and printed in the simili- tude of bank bills, in various denomina- tions, and largely in fractions of a dollar. The contractors and laborers on the road were paid off periodically with these orders, which were promptly paid in currency at the treasury, or taken at bank as cash. Soon merchants and traders of all kinds, finding the Ohio Railroad money as good as any other currency then used, began to accept it in payment of debts, or for any thing they had to sell. Thus the means were obtained to start the building of the road. After the line was established and the work absolutely begun, men along the line whose lands were to be greatly bene- fited, began to subscribe, quite liber- ally, believing the stock would be worth its face, and that they would make great gains in the increased value of their prop- erty. One man in Lower Sandusky sub- scribed for twenty-five thousand dollars of the stock, although good judges thought at the time his whole property of all kinds was not worth twenty-five hundred dollars, but subscriptions drew one-third of this amount from the State treasury iu an an available form, and this is but a single example of what was extensively practiced all along the line. Ohio Railroad money became the general circulating medium, and for a time was considered as good as our local bank paper, which at the time

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

was our chief medium of exchange and payment of debts. The Auditor of State, John Brough, in his annual report to the General Assembly for the year 1839, gave the amount for which the State had sub- scribed and paid stock to turnpike, canal, and slackwater navigation companies, but the amount of scrip or obligations of the State issued to aid in the construction of railroads, does not appear in the report of that year. He, however, informed the Assembly that the State debt was rapidly increasing, and that the revenues of the State were not sufficient to pay the interest on her debt. This report, doubtless, drew the attention of legislators to the financial condition of Ohio, and awakened public attention to consider the outcome and results of the then existing policy. Here it should be said that, although under this very liberal policy many useless schemes were organized, and, no doubt, much swindling of the State treasury had been accomplished in various ways under pretended compliance with the law, still many works were begun, and accom- plished, which were of great value to the State, and served to hasten the develop- ment of her resources.

The pile-drivers, meantime, were work- ing towards each other. It was expected they would meet somewhere near Huron. The one from the east had neared that place, and that from the west was some- where between Castalia and Venice, when the bubble burst, the machines stopped, and the people had the worthless Ohio Railroad money in their pockets. This crash came about 1810. Auditor Brough, in his report of 1840, complained again that the State had been compelled to issue its obligations to raise money to pay inter- est on her debt, and in one brief line stated the amount of scrip issued to railroad companies to be three hundred and fifty- eight thousand dollars, most of which was

probably issued to aid in building the Ohio Railroad. Judge Nehemiah Allen bore the reputation of an honest and honorable man, who was sincerely engaged in accom- plishing what he considered a great work for the State, and especially the north part of it, and the collapse left him poor in his old age. Samuel Wilson, the treasurer, was said to be poor at the beginning of the work, but at the bursting up of the concern 'was rich, and had bought land and built a splendid mansion on it, but the title to his property was found to be in his wife.

The amount of Ohio Railroad orders outstanding at the time they became worthless, is not known, but almost every man in this part of the State had some of it, and many had large amounts.

Mr. Charles O. Tillotson, who left a charge on the Maumee and Western Re- serve Turnpike to assist in the construc- tion of this railroad, and was in the em- ploy of the company when the failure occurred, remarked to the writer a few days ago, that if this railroad had been completed, this county would have been fifty years in advance of what it now is in the development of its resources and in wealth.

About forty years have passed since this enterprise closed in ruinous insolvency. President Allen and Treasurer Wilson have passed away ; all the bright anticipa- tions of those who designed and gave their money in support of the work are vanished, and the magnificent trestle was long ago taken down, and the superb tim- bers were converted into the third bridge for the Maumee and Western Reserve road, under the engineer, Cyrus Williams. Even the solid stone piers and abutments have been taken down. The ties and tim- bers prepared for the superstructure are gone, the more than three hundred thou- sand dollars contributed by the State are

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HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

gone, the money paid by its stockholders is gone, and the only visible remains of the work are the broken lines of decaying piles, to be yet seen in sections where the march of improvement has not taken them away. These still stand, silent, but fast disappearing witnesses of the great failure-

"The best laid schemes of mice and men Gang aft a glee."

The people, in 1839, had come to be- lieve that the act of 1837 was ruining the State credit, and would soon result in bringing her hopelessly in debt. This be-

lief became so general that it resulted in the repeal of the act, which had come to be popularly designated as the plunder law, by repealing the act passed March 17, 1840. And when the consequences of this plunder law became fully understood, so strong became the feeling against the principle in legislation, that in framing the new constitution such legislation is strictly forbidden, in the plainest and most unmistakable language.

If "history is philosophy, teaching by example," then this mention of the Ohio Railroad may not be in vain.

CHAPTER XIII. PLANK-ROAD.

The Lower Sandusky Plank-Road Company-Stock Subscribed-Cost of Buildings-Benefit of the Road to the County.

1OR a period of about nine years after F the failure of the Ohio Railroad Com- pany, the spirit of enterprise seemed to slumber in the county, and enterprising business men talked of the dullness .of our prospects, and some even expressed a desire to leave and go to where business was more promising. Still, Lower San- dusky was a good point for collecting pro- duce and selling merchandise. It was then the central trading point of a tolera- bly improved country, extending south- ward more than half way to Tiffin, east- ward to a point at least half way to Belle- vue, north almost to Port Clinton, and west half way or more to Perrysburg, and southwest as far as Risdon and Rome (now Fostoria), in the west part of Seneca county. Here was a circumference, then,

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History of Sandusky County, Ohio : with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens and pioneers, Part 23

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Everett, Homer, 1813-1887
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : H.Z. Williams
Number of Pages: 1040