USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 10
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The provisions of the act were formally ac- cepted by the stockholders, nearly all of whom agreed to sell at the maximum price. Four hun- dred and seventy-one shares were bought next year, and five hundred and fifty-four shares in 1844. A brief enactment was passed by the As- sembly this year, to settle a mooted question of jurisdiction, in case the Federal Government should become sole owner of the canal. It was provided that then the jurisdiction of Kentucky should be wholly relinquished to the United States, and that the annual reports to the General Assembly, required by the charter, need not be made by the United States. A greater amount of tonnage passed the canal this year than dur- ing any previous year; but the tolls had been reduced to fifty cents a ton, and the total re- ceipts were not so greatly increased. During 1846, the Mexican war then prevailing, the steamers exclusively employed by the General Government were permitted to pass the canal free of tolls, on account of the large interest the Government had acquired in the canal. Of ten thousand shares in its capital stock, all but 3,982 were virtually the property of the Uni- ted States. The State of Kentucky, however, had begun to tax the property and franchises of
the canal, and $3,490 had to be paid this year on tax account.
By January 31, 1847, the total number of 19,875 steamers had passed the canal, and 5,772 flat- and keel boats, the whole having a tonnage of 3,698,266. The tolls collected amounted to $1,795,608.90.
Judge James Hall, of Cincinnati, who published in 1848 an interesting work on The West: Its Commerce and Navigation, includes some severe remarks concerning this great work. He says in his chapter VI .:
This work, which was intended as a facility to our com- merce and a benefit to the whole people of the West, has sig- nally failed in accomplishing the purpose for which it was constructed; and as the Government of the United States, with the beneficent view of patronizing a work of public util- ity, became a partner in the canal, it cannot be thought invid- ious to call the attention of Congress to its deficiencies. The objections to this work are:
"I. The contracted size of the locks, which do not admit the passage of the largest class of boats.
"2. The inefficiency of the construction of the canal, which being deficient in width and depth, causes great delay, and often serious injury, to passing boats.
" 3. The enormous and unreasonable tax levied in tolls."
Each of these objections he proceeds to discuss at some length, and not without reason and force, though with evident prejudices against the canal.
The last purchases of stock (except a nominal amount of one share for each of five stockhold- ers, retained at the request of the Secretary of the Treasury, that they might continue the man- agement of the canal, pending the passage of an act of Congress to accept the work) were made in January, 1854, and January, 1855. The price of shares had now greatly increased, and the six hundred and ten bought in 1854 cost $249 each; for those bought the next year (one hundred and ninety-five) $257 per share were paid.
During the year 1854 the Portland dry dock and basin were purchased for the uses of the canal, at the price of $50,000. It was estimated that the use of the dock basin added at least $8,000 a year to the tolls, while the dock was greatly needed to repair the craft used in the regular operations of the canal. February I, 1855, the tolls were reduced by fully one-half --- from fifty to twenty-five cents per ton. Extensive improvements were made this year, costing $24,- 203.67, and the next, to the amount of $99,- 253.42. During the latter year, Congress having so far declined to accept the work, under the condition of the act, that it should be enlarged
52
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
"so as fully to answer the purpose of its estab- lishment," the company, under the advice of the Secretary of the Treasury, determined to have surveys made for the location of a branch canal, with locks capacious enough to pass the largest vessels on the river, and to purchase the necessary land for its site. Surveys and drawings were accordingly made in 1857, which were approved at the Treasury Department, and on the 19th of December the Assembly authorized the com- pany "to construct with the revenues and on the credit of the corporation, a branch canal suffi- cient to pass the largest class of steam vessels navigating the Ohio river." The next year, a change having occurred in the Secretaryship of the Treasury, the Hon. Howell Cobb, now Sec- retary, directed the total stopping of the work, until the pleasure of Congress should be further known. The company obeyed, although pro- testing against the jurisdiction of the Depart- ment to this extent, since, under the act of Feb- ruary, 1842, the United States had as yet abso- lute control over only its original block of 2,902 shares in the capital stock.
In 1859 large meetings of persons interested in the enlargement of the canal were held in Louisville, Cincinnati, Madison, and in other cities, and the importance of the measure was earnestly pressed upon Congress. That body duly authorized the enlargement and branch canal by resolution in May, 1860, with provisos that the United States should not be in any way liable for its cost, and that, when the enlargement was completed and paid for, no more tolls should be collected than would pay for its repair, superintendence, and management. In effect, Congress thus ceded the stock owned by the United States to the purposes of the trust declared by the Kentucky statute of 1842. Con- tracts were promptly let to Messrs. Benton Rob- inson & DeWolf-at first for the construction of the branch canal, and then for the enlarge- ment of the branch canal, and the work rapidly proceeded. In 1861 the sum of $357,763.30 was paid on account of canal improvement, about equally in cash and mortgage bonds, and $359,067.50 the next year, mostly in bonds. Receipts of tolls fell off enormously, in conse- quence of the civil war; the rate was raised in 1862 to thirty-seven and a half cents per ton, and in March, 1863, to the old rate of fifty cents.
The canal improvement this year cost $274,551 .- 02; the next year (1864), $290,297,63; the next, $143,284.84; and the next, on final settlement with the contractors, who had been compelled to surrender their contracts (and the company's over-work included), $256,353.54. The means applicable to the work, after the expenditure of these large sums, were now exhausted, and it was estimated that, under the greatly increased cost of labor and material induced by the war, $1,- 000,000 more would be necessary to finish it. (The original estimate, before the war, for the cost of the work was $1,800,000.) A mortgage was made in 1860 upon the canal and its reve- nues, to Isaac Caldwell, of Louisville, and Dean Richmond, of Buffalo, to secure the payment of the sixteen thousand bonds issued, of the de- nomination of $1,000 each.
During 1864 the tow-boat Thomas Walker was built by the company, at a cost of $15,000, and was found exceedingly useful in the operations of the canal, as well as giving a handsome reve- nue from towing for others. The next year a dredge-boat was bought of the United States for $1,750. The taxes paid this year were very large -$7,676 to the United States, and $4,022 to the State, or $11,698 in all. In 1866 $10,430 were paid on this account.
THE UNITED STATES IN CHARGE.
Finally, by resolutions of the Kentucky Legis- lature passed in the Senate March 27, 1872, in the House March 29th, approved by the Gov- ernor the same day, the control of the canal was definitely surrendered by this Commonwealth to the General Government, upon the conditions precedent set forth in the resolutions, which were accepted by the United States. The text of this important measure should be here recorded in full :
WHEREAS, All the stock in the Louisville & Portland canal belongs to the United States Government, except five shares owned by the Directors of the Louisville & Portland Canal Company, and said Directors, under the authority of the Legislature of Kentucky and the United States, executed a mortgage to Isaac Caldwell and Dean Richmond to secure bonds named in said mortgage, some of which are out and unpaid, and said Canal Company may owe other debts; and whereas, it is right and proper that the Government of the United States should assume the control and management of said canal; therefore, be it
Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the President and Directors of the Louisville & Portland Canal Company are hereby authorized and direct- ed to surrender the said canal, and all the property connect-
53
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
ed therewith to the Government of the United States, upon the following terms and conditions:
I. That the Government of the United States shall not levy tolls on said canal, except such as shall be necessary to keep the same in repair, pay all necessary superintendence, custody, and expenses, and make all necessary improve- ments.
2. That the city of Louisville shall have the right to throw bridges over the canal at such points as said city may deem proper: Provided, always, that said bridges shall be so lo- cated as not to interfere with the use of the canal, and so constructed as not to interfere with its navigation.
3. That the title and possession of the United States of the said canal shall not interfere with the right of the State to serve criminal and civil processes, or with the State's general power over the territory covered by the canal and its appendages.
4. And further, That the city of Louisville shall at all times have the right of drainage into said canal, provided that the connections between the drains and the canal shall be made upon the plan to keep out mnd and garbage.
5. 'That the use of the water-power of the canal shall be guaranteed forever to the actual owners of the property con- tiguous to said canal, its branches and dams, subject to such restrictions and regulations as may be made by the Secretary of the Department of the United States Government which may have charge of said canal.
6. That the Government of the United States, before such surrender, discharge all the debts duc by said canal company and purchase the stock of said directors.
The total amount of tolls received on the canal year by year, since 1831, when tolls first figured in the annual reports of the company, to 1871, are as follows:
1831. .$ 12,750.77
1852 . $153,758.12
1832. 25,756.12
1853.
178,869.39
1833. 60,736.92
1854-5 (13 mo.) .. 149,640.43
1834.
61,848.17
1855 (II months) .. 94,356. 19
1835.
80, 165.24
1856 75,791.85
1836.
88,343.23
1857 110,015.38
1837.
145,424.69
1858
75.479.21
1838
121,157.16
1859 90,905.63
1839.
180,364.01
I860 135,917.15
1840.
134.904.55
1861 42,650.02
1841
113,944.59
I862 69,936.90
18.42.
95.005.10
I863
152,937.02
1843
107,274.65
1864 164,476.26
1844
140,389.97
I865 175.515.49
I845
138,291.17
1866 180,925.40
1846.
149,401.84
1867
114,961.35
1847
139,900.72
1868
155,495.88
1848.
158,067.96
1869 167,171.60
18.49
129,953.46
1870
139,175.00
1850.
115,707.88
1871 159,838.90
1851 167,066.49
Since the enlargement of the canal and its transfer to the Federal Government, the heavy tolls before exacted have been abolished and the work is now practically free to the commerce of any and every State.
THE ENLARGEMENT
so long desired was made in 1870-71, and the
new locks were opened November 20, 1871, for the passage of boats. Mr. Collins says: "In widening it to 90 feet 40,000 cubic yards of earth were taken out, and 90,000 of solid limestone- the ledge 11 to 12 feet thick ; 11,000 cubic yards of dry wall masonry were built. Instead of a fall of 16 feet in 114 miles, will be a fall of 26 feet in nearly two miles-a lengthening the dis- tance the water will have to flow between the head and foot of the fall, in order to lessen the force of the current."
Work upon the improvement continued dur- ing the succeeding years, and by the close of 188r the total enlargement was $1,451,439.40, and it was estimated that $50,000 more could be profitably expended upon it during the next six months. By means of the improvement boats so large as three hundred and thirty-five feet long and eighty-five feet wide can easily pass the canal, The total passing of the year 1881 was 4,196 vessels, with a registered tonnage of 1,424,838 tons, while 1,723 boats with 517,361 tons passed down the Falls. The canal was open 280 days this year, being closed by high water 41 days and by ice 25. Below the canal an important improvement was made this year, in the extension of Portland dyke 2,300 feet, with 700 to be constructed in 1882, which would render the bar near it navigable in all stages of water.
THE RAILWAY BRIDGE.
The project of a bridge across the Falls of the Ohio naturally occupied the attention of intelli- gent people at the Falls cities for many years. To it the late Hon. James Guthrie and other leading capitalists and public-spirited men gave some of their best energies. Among other efforts to awaken public attention to the import- ance of the enterprise, an able article in the Daily Courier of March 4, 1854, is especially re- membered. On the 10th of March, 1856, the Legislature of Kentucky granted a charter to Thomas W. Gibson, L. A. Whiteley, Joshua F. Bullitt, Joseph Davis Smith, and David T., Mon- sarrat, as corporators of the Louisville Bridge company. Nothing to speak of was done under it, however, except to keep the project more con- spicuously before the public. At length, on the 19th of February, 1862, another act was passed by the General Assembly, "to incorporate the Lonisville Bridge company," which revived and
.
54
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
confirmed the charter of 1856, to James Guth- rie, D. Ricketts, G. H. Ellery, and their asso- ciates, as successors to the persons named in the former charter, and vested with all its powers and rights. January 17, 1865, an act of Con- gress was approved, supplemental to an act to establish post-roads (under which the bridges at Steubenville, Bellaire, and Parkersburg were built), and authorizing the Louisville & Nashville and Jeffersonville railroad companies, which had become stockholders in the company, to con- struct a railway bridge across the Ohio at the head of the Falls, at a height not less than fifty- five feet above low-water mark, and with three draws sufficient to pass the largest boats navigat- ing the Ohio river-one over the Indiana chute, one over the middle chute, and one over the canal; with spans not less than two hundred and forty feet, except over the said chutes and canal, and with draws of one hundred and fifty feet wide on each side of the pivot pier over the Indiana and middle chutes, and ninety feet wide over the canal; the bridge and draws to be so constructed as not to interrupt the navigation of the river. Such bridge was declared, when built, to be a lawful structure, and to be recognized and known as a post-route.
In a hundred days from the passage of this act the war was over, and the way for the great work was clearer. Many months more were necessarily passed in settling the legal questions arising under the act of Congress, and in making the indispensable arrangements for money and labor; but in the fullness of time all was ready, and the contracts were let. The materials for the first span were to be delivered by June 1, 1868, and for the others as fast as would be re- quired by the completion of the masonry. The erection of the superstructure was begun in May, 1868; and the work went forward with reasona- ble rapidity. There were occasional unfortunate accidents in its progress, some of them involving loss of life; but none seriously delaying the work excel extraordinary freshets in September and October, 1868, and an accident on the 7th of December, 1869, when a steamboat with a tow of barges, passing the Falls during a heavy freshet, knocked out and destroyed the false work erected for the last span-that next the In- diana chute. But for this disaster the bridge would have been completed the same month.
With tremendous energy and very large expense, however, the material was replaced and the span put in; the first connection of superstructure be- tween the two shores was made February 1, 1870; the railway track was promptly laid, and the first train passed over on the 12th of that month; and the bridge was thrown open to the public on the 24th. The foot walks on the east side of the bridge were not ready for use until the 13th of the next November. The bridge had cost, to the close of 1870, $2,003,696.27, including $114,562 interest on the capital stock, and all other expenses. The construction account alone was $1,641,618.70, reaching not greatly beyond the estimate of the chief engineer Janu- ary 1, 1868, which was $1,500,000. The partial year of operation in 1870 yielded the company a gross income of $121,267.55-$84,605.98 tolls from railway freights, $35,515.97 from railway passengers, and $1, 145.60 tolls on the foot-walks. The operating expenses were $91,023.77.
-
Mr. Albert Fink was the chief engineer for the construction of this mighty work, his connection with it ceasing March 1, 1870. His principal assistant was Mr. F. W. Vaughn, and Edwin Thacher was assistant in charge of the instru- mental work. Patrick Flannery and M. J. O'Connor had the masonry in charge, and Henry Bolla the iron superstructure. The contractors for this were the Louisville Bridge and Iron com- pany, Mr. E. Benjamin superintendent.
The bridge is used by the Ohio & Mississippi, the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago, and the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis railroads. The Pennsylvania company, controlling the last- named, which built the embankment at the east cnd of the bridge, thus aontrols the Indiana ap- proach.
The following description of the bridge is ex- tracted from a report made to the chief of en- gineers of the United States army in 1871 by Generals G. K. Warren and G. Weitzel and Colonel Merrill, a Board detailed to examine and report upon the work :
This bridge, sometimes known as the Ohio Falls bridge, is a railroad and foot bridge, and it crosses the Ohio river at the head of the Falls, extending from a point just below the city of Jeffersonville, in Indiana, to the foot of Fourteenth street in the city of Louisville. It belongs to a special bridge corporation, and serves to connect the Indiana rail- way system with the roads on the south of the Ohio that centre at Louisville.
The bridge, as built, belongs to the class of " high " bridges,
55
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
as distinguished from bridges with draws and an elevation of but seventy feet.
It has a single railroad track, and two sidewalks, each 6.2 feet wide, and its total length between abutments is 5,2183 feet. The spans commencing at the abutment on the In- diana or north shore are as follows: 99, 149.6, 180, 180, 180, 39834 (Indiana Chute), 24516, 24512, 2451/2, 2451%, 2451%, 24513, 370 (Middle Chute), 227, 227, 210, 210, 180, 180, 149.58, 149.58, 149.58, 149.58, 132, 132 (draw over canal), 50, 50. These dimensions are from center to center of piers, and they are greater by the half-widths of two piers than the clear waterway. The trusses themselves are of the two styles patented by Mr. Albert Fink, the chief engineer of the bridge. The two channel-spaces are spanned by Fink trian- gular trusses, and all the others except the draw by Fink trussed girders. The draw-bridge is what is generally known as a Warren girder, differing only from the triangular in that the latter has certain additional members that are necessary to adapt it to long spans. The former are " through," or "over-grade" bridges, and the latter "deck," or "under- grade." The clear waterway at the Indiana chute, meas- ured on the low water line, is 380 feet, and at the Middle chute 35214 feet. The roadway bearers of the channel-spans are suspended below the bottom chords, and consequently the height under the bridge available for steamboats must be measured to these members. The line of the roadway bearers of the Indiana channel-span is 96% feet above low water, and 4572 feet above highest water, the maximum oscillation being 5t feet. At the middle channel-space the river is dry at low water, and the available space above the river bed is 90 feet. These two channel-spans are on the same level, but at the Indiana channel the break in the rocky ledge is 1,000 feet above, while in the middle channel it is 6,000 feet below. The line of the crest of the Falls is exceed- ingly irregular, crossing the line of the bridge between the two channel-spans nearly at right angles.
The tops of the channel piers and of all piers between them are 971/ feet above low water of the Indiana chute. The others are lower, conforming to the grades of the bridge.
The foundations of all the piers of this bridge were laid on the solid rock, and therefore there is no need of any rip- rap protection around them.
The right pier of the Indiana channel-space is 64 feet 6 inches by 17 feet 101/2 inches at bottom; thence it is carried up vertically, with 10% inches of offsets, to 10 feet above low water. Above this the sides have the uniform batter np to the coping of 7-16 of an inch per foot. The left pier is 65 feet 6 inches by 18 feet 8 inches at bottom, and is carried up vertically with I foot 61/4 inches of offsets to 18 feet above low water. Above this the sides have the usual batter. The up and down-stream ends of the pier: are built alike, with starlings formed by the intersections of arcs of circles with radi of 1216 feet. They are capped by hoods at high-water mark, and above this are finished with semicircular sections. These piers on top (without coping), measure 33 by 10. The piers of the middle channel are 64 by 1734 feet at bot- tom, and 33 by 10 feet on top, with starlings and hoods like the other channel piers. The other piers are similarly con- structed, excepting that above the lower starlings and hoods they have another starling and hood, which makes a shorter length of pier on top. The top dimensions of pier No. 7 (without coping) are 21 by 7, the dimensions at bottom being 45 5-6 feet by 1412.
The grades and curvatures on this bridge and its ap-
proaches are as follows, commencing at the face of the abut- ment on the Indiana or northern shore :
Distance.
Grade.
Curvature.
Remarks.
785. 1 2,241.75 2,192.82
78.6 0
79.14
l'angent .. Indiana side. Tangent .. Channel-spans and spans be- Tangent .. Kentucky side.
[tween.
5,219.67
The approach to this bridge on the Indiana shore consists of a long and high embankment. This, however, does not properly belong to the bridge, and, in accordance with the rule adopted for other bridges, we consider that we have reached the end of a bridge when we come to earth-work. Under this rule this bridge has no approaches, the entire space from abutment to abutment being waterway.
This bridge crosses the Louisville and Portland canal 1,700 feet below the guard-lock at the head. An unobstructed passageway for steamboats is secured by means of a draw, giving a clear opening of 114 feet over the canal. The other end of the draw projects over a portion of the river, and by modifying the canal-bank on this side so that it shall just have the width of the pivot of the draw, it will be practicable for steamboats in high water to ascend the river without lowering the chimneys. This is a very valuable provision for boats that habitually run where there are no bridges, which yet may occasionally wish to go above Louisville. In low water such boats can pass through the canal, and in high water, by using the other end of the same draw, they can pass up the river even should they be too wide to get through the new locks. .
The total high-water section of the river on the line of the bridge is 216,249 square feet, of which 13,573 square feet, or six per cent., is occupied by the piers. This contraction would probably cause no perceptible increase of velocity. The low-water section is 1, 377 square feet, of which 60 square feet, or four and one-half per cent., is obstructed. All the water at this stage is running through the Indiana chute; but there being no navigation possible, the effect of the piers need not be considered.
The board have no changes to recommend in this bridge, which they consider a first-class structure throughout, and very much less an obstruction than it might have been had its builders limited themselves to giving only what they were compelled by law to give. On the contrary, they have chosen to build according to the highest of the three author- ized plans, and have exceeded the heights and widths that even this plan required, spending $150,000 more than was necessary to comply with the letter of the law. Instead of a 300-foot opening at low water, one of their channel-spans gives 380 feet, and the other 35214 feet. The total cost of the bridge, from abutment to abutment, was $1,615, 120,
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