History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 87

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408

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The Miami and Erie Canal (Toledo and C'in- cinnati) is still operated throughout, though with marked diminution of traffic. It yet transports to Toledo a portion of the produce grown on its line in the region of St. Mary's, as it does more or less of local freights on the Southern half of its line ; but the aggregate is in marked contrast with the traffic of former years. The Section of this Canal between the locks in Toledo and the connection with the River at Manhattan was vacated in 1870. Its traffic had never been such as, on the score of business to warrant its construction. The River connection at Maumee was even more disappointing in its results, and many years sinee was practically abandoned.

The extent and directions of the loss of Canal traffic at Toledo are indicated by the following table, showing the amounts of receipts and shipments at that point during the years 1863 and 1864, and for the year 1886 :

COMPARATIVE RECEIPTS.

1864.

1863.

1886.

Flour, bbls

241.130

247,259

4,710

Wheat, bus

1,942,970

767,712

Corn, bus

246,215

248,131

69,91I

Oats, bus

19,112

16,562

8,760

Pork, bbls

14,965

26,877

Hides, Ibs

14,290

59,485

Lard, lbs

627,609

1,765,632

Oil Cake, lbs

2,139,675

2,759,841

Staves, No.

963,191

1,064,222

Lumber, ft

6,306,000

2,449,418

519,600

Timber, cub. ft

270,277

40,168

149,200

Wood, cords

4,486

9,999

4,196

Wool, 1bs

50,619

15,729

COMPARATIVE SHIPMENTS.

1864.

1863.

1886.

Barley, bus

2,906

Wheat, bus

58,003

21,806

22,615

Iron. lbs

111,271

714,991

2,000

Iron Ore, Ibs

4,058,880

Ice, Ibs

23,514,000

Powder

34,836

Coal, lbs

2,506

25,522

606,000

Salt, lbs

50,659

70,942

3 908

Lath

4,925,000

4,665,000

1,097,000

Shingles

8,781,000

8,616,000

545,000

Lumber, ft

27,431,312

18,255,713

2,068,100

CHAPTER IX.

EARLY CANAL AND LAKE TRAFFIC.

THE Erie Canal was first opened for traffic in the Fall of 1825. Previous to that time finished portions of the same had been used for traffic more or less, and immediately there- after the entire line came to be supplied with facilities as fast as experience and the develop- ment of the trade would admit; but these re- mained very imperfect during the ensuing year.

In January, 1827, appeared the first an- nouncement of a " Through Line," affording accommodations to be made available by con- tract with regular agents. It was known as the Troy Steam and Tow-Boat Line (on the Hudson River), or the Troy and Black Rock Line of Canal Boats (on the Canal). The "best of Schooners on the Lake" connected with this line. The local agents of the same were as follows : P. Hart, Jr., New York ; G. P. Griffith & Co., Troy ; D. Griffith & Co., Syra- cuse ; Brown & Griffith, Rochester ; Sheldon, Thompson & Co., Buffalo ; and William Town- send, Sandusky, Ohio. The latter was the only agent West of Buffalo, and he advertised that "a number of first-class teams " were employed by the Line for freight between Sandusky and Cincinnati or intermediate points. The senior of the Rochester firm of Brown & Griffith, was the late Matthew Brown, of Toledo. Very few of his acquaintances were aware of the relation he bore to the pioneer transportation line of the Erie Canal. At the request of the writer, Mr. Brown, a short time previous to his death, furnished the following statement of the in- auguration of traffic on the Erie Canal, and its connection with the Lakes. He said :

The Erie Canal was commenced in 1817, the first shovel of earth having been thrown on the 4th of July of that year, at Rome, Oneida County. The work was pushed with great energy, and in the latter part of October, 1825, the flotilla from Lake Erie reached New York City, where it was welcomed with great pomp and imposing ceremonies. The Canal Commissioners very judiciously commenced the work in the central part of the State, where the levels were long and the bulk of the work consisted of excavations. The people of the State were not slow in availing themselves of the facilities offered by the work, as different sections were completed. Many single boats were at once put in commission, and several Transportation Companies were organ- ized. As might be expected, these were composed, in great measure, of those who had been engaged in similar pursuits, viz. : Mohawk River Boatmen and broad-tire wagons, formerly employed in the trans- portation of freight over substantially the same route. At the time of the opening of the Canal, my father (Dr. Matthew Brown) was a large property

holder in Rochester and was engaged in several in- dustrial pursuits, the principal of which was the manufacture of flour for the New York market. For want of better help, a good deal of the management of the business fell to me. I had considerable assist- ance from a younger brother (the late Henry H. Brown, of Detroit). We had, like other millers, at times much difficulty in getting our flour to market, and it was deemed best to own two or three Canal Boats. The result was, that during the Winter of 1825-26, we laid the keels of four Boats, to which a fifth one was added the following Spring. The Boats were of the first-class of that day, and carried about 30 tons, with accommodations for passengers. Mr. G. P. Griffith, of Troy, was the proprietor of a small line of eight or 10 Boats. He proposed to me to visit Buffalo and enlist the co-operation of Lake ship-owners there (with whom he had been in corre- spondenee). in the formation of a line to run through from Lake Erie to Troy, in connection with a house (Pattison & Hart) who were about to establish a line of Tow-Boats on the HIudson. To make a long story short, the Canal line was formed, with a capital of $20,000-Sheldon, Thompson & Co., and Townsend & Coit, of Buffalo, owning one-quarter ; G. P. Griffith & Co., of Troy, about one-half ; my father the value of four boats ; while Griffith & Brown (Evan Griffith and myself) had a small interest, and were the agents at Rochester.

Such was the commencement of the famous (as I may now call it) Troy and Erie Line, which, with its correspondents at the several Lake ports, was not a whit behind the best of its contemporaries. I was in this organization four years, and after some episod- ical experience in other ventures, found myself in the Spring of 1836 a junior partner of the house of Coit, Kimberly & Co., Buffalo, which succeeded the two houses mentioned above. John L. Kimberly, now living, was the active head manager at Buffalo. I came to Toledo in 1843, and have been a member of several firms engaged in the shipping and commission business.

A prominent part of the Canal traffic then consisted in passenger business by Packet Boats; and Mrs. Matthew Brown well remem- bers the active part she took in the manufac- ture of pillow-slips for the Packets of the Pio- meer line of the Erie Canal, in which she soon became more deeply interested by marriage with one of its owners.

In May, 1827, a second transportation line (the Pilot Line of Canal Boats) was announced, with the following agents: Shankland, Brace & Co., New York ; Joy & Webster, Buffalo; and Wilcoxson, Swearingin & Co., Sandusky. It is proper here to state, that, with the excep- tion of Detroit, Sandusky was then the most Western point of commercial importance on the line of the Lakes. There was then no Chicago or Milwaukee, while the trade of the Manmee

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EARLY CANAL AND LAKE TRAFFIC.

River was confined to the local traffic at Perrys- burg and Maumee City, Toledo not having been heard, if thought of. Sandusky's superi- ority arose in the interior and Southern trade supplied from that point.

As early as December, 1827, a movement took place toward organization among the masters of Vessels on Lake Erie. As stated by the Buffalo Journal (then edited by Oran Follett, Esq., now of Sandusky), a meeting of such commanders was held in that City, when were passed resolutions, in which was set forth the necessity of masters acquiring a more per- fect knowledge of Lake navigation, in conse- quence of the growing importance of their call- ing, for which purpose the " Lake Erie Marine Society " was organized.

In 1838, the cost of transportation of freight between New York and Toledo, was $22.00 per ton-via Erie Canal and the Lake. The rate from New York to Chicago was $32.00. From Toledo to Chicago, the charge was $10.00 per ton. These rates were the average for Summer traffic, those for the later portion of the season being sometimes higher, reaching $4.00 per

barrel bulk between Buffalo and Chicago. To these charges were added the cost for insur- ance, which, between Buffalo and Chicago, amounted to $12.50 per ton; and between Toledo and Chicago, $8.34 per ton-thus mak- ing the aggregate Buffalo and Chicago cost, $44.50 per ton, and that between Toledo and Chicago, 818.34. The charge for passengers by Steamboats from Toledo and Detroit to Chi- cago, were-for cabin, $20.00; and for deck, $12.00. It was then estimated that with a Railroad between Toledo and Chicago (distance 234 miles), the two routes would compare as follows: By rail, the time would be 12 hours for passenger, and 24 hours for freight trains, with $10.00 as fare for passengers, and $7.05 per ton for freight; against five days' time and $12.00 to $20.00 for passengers, and $18.34 for freight by water.

Did spare permit, it would be interesting to follow the progress of this great channel of trade, through the various changes which it has undergone during the past 60 years. But that is not practicable; and we must be con- tent with this brief record of its start.

CHAPTER X.

LAKE MARINE.

THE first Steamboat on Lake Erie was built at Black Rock, below Buffalo, in 1818, hav- ing been launched about the 4th of July. She was named " Walk-in the-Water," as alleged for an Indian Chief; was of about 300 tons burden, and moved in the water at from eight to ten miles per hour. The date of its first trip up the Lake is not definitely settled in history, by some it being given as in September. The Cleveland Register of November 3, 1818, made this mention of what seems to have been her first visit to that port, as follows :

The Steamboat Walk-in-the-Water left Buffalo for Detroit on the 10th of October, having on board 100 passengers. The facility with which she moves over our Lake, warrants us in saying that she will be of utility. not only to the proprietors, but also to the public. She offers us a safe, sure and speedy convey- ance for all our surplus produce to distant markets. She works as well in a storm as any vessel on the Lakes, and answers the most sanguine expectations of the proprietors.

The following was the first announcement made of a Steamboat excursion to the Upper Lakes:

The Steamboat Walk-in-the-Water will sail on the 10th of June next, from Buffalo for Michilimakinac. and call as usual for passengers at the intermediate ports on Lake Erie. Her second trip will be on the 9th of August next.

JEDEDIAH ROGERS, Master. Cleveland, May 25, 1820.

Mr. E. D. Howe, for many years publisher of a newspaper at Painesville, Ohio, in 1859 made a statement of his personal knowledge of this Steamboat, in which he said :

On the fourth day of July (or thereabouts), in the year ISIS, I saw the said Boat slide from her ways into the Niagara River, two miles below Buffalo, at the Village of Black Rock. She was landed beam foremost or sideways, and brought up within 20 feet of the shore. She was finished and made three or four trips to Detroit the same season. The next year (1819) I was a passenger on said Boat to Cleveland on ber first trip up. She was commanded by Captain Job Fish, and a rough and rickety thing she was. The harbors on Lake Erie at that time could only be entered by small open boats, and in consequence of a heavy wind we lay in the Lake off Cleveland three days and three nights, without effecting a landing.

Mr. Howe states the fastest time of the pioneer Steamboat to have been 29 hours from Buffalo to Cleveland (200 miles), or about seven miles per hour.

The Steamer was in service three years, and until November, 1821, leaving Black Rock at

four p. M. on the 6th of that month. for Detroit and intermediate ports, with 75 passengers and a large quantity of merchandise. The weather was then calm. When ont six miles, the wind arose, and Captain Rogers returned to Buffalo Bay. The wind increased in force, accompanied by rain, and the night was intensely dark. Between 10 and 11, she commenced leaking and dragged her anchors before the hurricane. Despite the pumps, the water increased in the hold. She continued to drift, and soon struck, when her cables were ent, and she went ashore on a sandy beach. The passengers and erew got ashore a little before daylight. The goods were wet and seriously damaged. Captain Rogers was said to have done his full duty in the crisis. The keel was broken in two or three places, and the entire hull so seriously shattered as to have been rendered useless She had been in service a little over three years.

Among the passengers on board the Walk- in-the- Water during her last trip, were Orlando Cutler, George Williams and John S. Strong, of Cleveland. Mr. Cutter stated that being East in the Fall of 1821, he decided on reach- ing Black Rock to take the Steamboat, instead of a Schooner, as had been his practice. In company with abont 70 passengers (including the other two persons named) he went aboard. The oxen were hitched to the craft, and in due time took it past the rapids to the open Lake. Owing to the severe gale prevailing, Captain Rogers was compelled to put back, but unable to enter Buffalo Creek, anchored at its mouth. Being very seasick, Mr. Cutter occupied his berth below. Mr. Williams, in 1885 (then probably the only surviving passenger of the Walk-in-the-Water), furnished an account of his experience on the occasion referred to, in which he said :

The Walk-in-the-Water on that last voyage left Black Rock in the afternoon of a dull, cloudy day. As she east otl' her tow-line and moved unaided into the broad waters of Lake Erie, there was no anticipa- tion of the terrible gale we were soon to encounter. The boat had a full complement of passengers, and a full cargo of goods, mostly for Western merchants, one of whom, Mr. Palmer, of Detroit, was on board with his bride. There was also a company of Mis- sionaries, several of whom were ladies, on their way to some Western Indian tribe. As the winds rose, friends grouped themselvestogether, and as the storm grew more and more furious, there was great terror among them. The Missionaries sang hymns and de- voted themselves to soothing the terrified. We lay tossed of the tempest, the big seas sweeping over us all the long night. Just as the first gleam of daylight

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LAKE MARINE.

appeared our anchor began to drag. Captain Miller seeing the impossibility of saving the Steamer, or- dered her beached. With skilled seamanship she was sent broadside on. A rope was stretched from boat to beach, and the passengers were ferried to shore in the small boat. They reached it drenched and exhausted, but all saved.

In September, 1885, the Magazine of West- ern History (Cleveland, Ohio), published an artiele by J. H. Kennedy, to which the writer is indebted for much of the foregoing facts. In that connection was given the following pic- ture of the pioneer Steamboat, furnished by the Northern Ohio Historical Society, which was said by those who saw the craft, to be a faith- ful representation .

designed for the great commercial metropolis of the Northwest, and which was given a name to correspond with such expectations, to wit : " Orleans of the North," in contradistinction to New Orleans of the South. There was much about the venture to attract attention, especial- ly at a time of general speculation such as fol- lowed the War. As the head of navigation of the Maumee, and the Western extremity of Lake Erie, the situation was inspiring of hope. It was in promotion of their enterprise, that Messrs. MeIntyre and Stewart built the pioneer Steamboat of the Lakes. Unfortunately. they overestimated the commercial advantages of their site, since it was found upon trial that the Walk-in-the- Water would be compelled, liter-

THE WALK-IN-THE-WATER.

The history of this Steamboat is much more closely allied to the Manmee River, than is generally understood. In fact, it is believed to have been built primarily to run between Buf- falo and the foot of the Maumee Rapids. Its builders were Messrs. McIntyre and Stewart, of Albany, New York .* Soon after the close of the War of 1812-15. these gentlemen pur- chased a tract of land above Perrysburg, which included the site of Fort Meigs, and laid out on the River below the Fort, a Town, which was

* The Cleveland Herald, in July, 1853, said : "The Walk-in-the-Water, the first Steamboat on the Lakes, was built at Buffalo, in 1818, for Dr. Stewart, and was named after a Wyandot Chief, who lived at Magnaga, on the Detroit River. Dr. Stewart told Major B. F. Stickney, of Toledo, at that time, that. including what he paid Fulton and Livingston for their patent, the boat cost him $70,000."

ally to walk in the water, if she ever reached her destination, for the reason that she drew too much water for the bars between the Lake and " Orleans of the North." She got no far ther than the mouth of Swan Creek, the pres- ent site of Toledo, where she stopped, thus un- wittingly indicating the precise location of the Chief City of the Maumee. "Orleans of the North," with several other " Paper Towns," is known only in history, and it will be remem- bered chiefly as the place inaccessible to the first Steamboat on the Western Lakes.

The circumstances under which steam navi- gation was compelled to force its way to recog- nition and acceptance, is indicated by an ex- tract from a letter written March 2, 1814, by R. L. Livingston, then a prominent man in New York. He said :

45-1

HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

Governor Ogden, of New Jersey, Isuppose, is at Albany, endeavoring to get a bill passed to enable him to run his Steamboat to the dock in New York. The Legislature cannot be so corrupt as to pass the bill.

The explanation given of this, is, that Mr. Livingston, Captain Roorback and others, of New York, were then building the Steamboat " Fire Fly," and were jealous of apprehended competition from the New Jersey craft.

The second Steamboat on Lake Erie was the Superior, built at Buffalo in 1822. She was com- manded by Captain Jedediah Ransom, her own- ers being the Lake Erie Steamboat Company, whose headquarters were at Albany, N. Y., J. S. Ostrander, Secretary. June 25, 1822, the Superior started on the first trip made by a Steamboat to Mackinaw. Finding one week too little time for a round trip between Buffalo and Detroit, it was extended to nine days. Davis & Center were the Buffalo agents.

The third Steamboat on the Lakes was the Pioneer, Captain W. T. Pease, of Black Rock, which came out in October, 1825, making the trip between Buffalo and Detroit once in nine days.

The new steamboat Niagara, built at Black Rock, first reached Detroit August 10, 1826, Captain W. T. Pease commanding. The new William Penn, Captain J. F. Wight, followed August 20th.

As early as June 12, 1827, the Steamboat Henry Clay, Captain Walter Norton, started on a trip to Green Bay, then only known as an Indian agency. She stopped at Cleveland, San- dusky, Detroit, Fort Gratiot and Michilimack- inae (Mackinaw). The announcement of the trip was as follows :

A treaty with the Northwestern tribes of Indians is to be held at Green Bay about the 18th or 20th of June, and this trip of the Henry Clay (which is prin- cipally for the accommodation of Governor Cass and other gentlemen connected with the treaty, and will probably be the only Steamboat voyage made into that region during the present season) will afford an admirable opportunity for gentlemen who are desir- ous of visiting the Great Western Lakes and viewing the country and its native inhabitants, by which they are surrounded. The Clay is a boat of the largest class and most modern in construction, and decidedly the best boat on the Lakes.

As far back as 1821, the Legislature of Ohio found itself called upon to protect the rights of citizens from an attempted monopoly of the waters of Lake Erie within the State of New York. It seems that Robert L. Livingston and Robert Fulton had been granted by New York the exclusive right of navigation in such waters by steam power, and under such grant sought to levy contributions upon all Steamboats nav- igating such waters, and especially those from other States. To meet this action, the Ohio Legislature passed an act prohibiting any boat or water craft from receiving or landing pas-

sengers from Steamboats. The force of this provision is seen in the fact that at that time, there being no improved harbors on Lake Erie, Steamboats and other larger crafts were com- pelled to employ small boats to land passen- gers and freight. The State could not prevent the navigation of the waters of the Lake by New York Steamboats, but it could, or, at least, undertook to prevent the use of the means named for aiding such to reach the shore. Connecticut passed a retaliatory law similar to that of Ohio.

The "Lake Erie Steamboat Line " was or- ganized in 1827, and consisted of the Superior (second Steamer on the Lakes), the Henry Clay, the Niagara and the William Penn. They made tri-weekly trips between Buffalo and De- troit, stopping at intermediate ports. The cost of transportation of merchandise from New York to Cincinnati, via Sandusky, in October, 1827, was as follows :

New York to Sandusky (9 days), per 100 lbs., $1.18; Sandusky to Cincinnati (14 days, by wagon), $2.00; total, $3.18. The current rate from Philadelphia to Cincinnati was $5.00 per 100 lbs., with greater time.

The Cincinnati Tiller then stated it to be cheaper to bring goods from Philadelphia to Cincinnati via New York and Sandusky.

In 1838 the following named Steamboats con- stituted the principal line on Lake Erie, to wit :

The Wisconsin, Captain G. F. Powers; the Con- stitution, Captain Gil. Appleby ; the Anthony Wayne, Captain Amos Pratt ; the O. H. Perry, Cap- tain David Wilkison ; the Columbus, Captain Augus- tus Walker; and the Vermillion and Rhode Island.

The Upper Lake boats were the James Madison, Captain R. C. Bristol; the Thos. Jefferson, Captain Tom Wilkins; and two new boats building at Buffalo and Huron. The proprietors and agents of this line were : Barnard. Card & Prosser, New York ; Noyes, Tomlinson & Hubby, Albany ; Northrup & Pease, Rochester; Gelston & Evans, Buffalo ; Petrie & Rood, Cleveland; Wickham, Walker & Co., Huron ; Barber & Barney. Sandusky ; Chase, Sill & Co., Manhattan ; Palmer, Bush & Co., Toledo; Bingham & Furey, Mau- mee City ; J. Hollister & Co., Perrysburg ; Gray, Gal- lagher & Co., Detroit ; Ballard, Edmunds & Co., Ypsi- lanti ; H. C. Holbrook, Michigan City ; Britain, San- gert & Co .. St. Joseph, Mich .; J. Y. Sanger & Co., South Bend, Ind.

The Blade of January 31, 1838, said :

A comparison of the number of arrivals at our wharves in 1836 and 1837, will show an increased measure of prosperity during the past year. In 1836 the number of arrivals, exclusive of small Steamboats that ply daily between this place and Detroit was 601, as follows: Steamboats, 330 ; and 271 schooners. In 1837, excluding the small boats again from the compu- tation, the number was 959 ; of which 756 were Steam- boats and 203 Schooners. Of the Steamboat arrivals, 270 were from Buffalo direct, 401 from Buffalo ria Detroit, and 85 direct from Cleveland. When it is recollected that Toledo dates her existence from June, 1834, we think we may safely state, without arro- gance or boasting, that no point in the West can show a like rapid increase in her commerce.

455

LAKE MARINE.

Consolidation and combination were early known to Lake navigation. The "Consolida- tion Steamboat Company " existed in 1839, and sought to protect the owners of Steamboats on the Lakes from the effects of competition, by fixing prices, which were as follows :

Passenger rates from Buffalo to Cleveland-Cabin, $6.00; steerage, $2.50. 'To Detroit-Cabin, $8.00; steerage, $3.00.

Freight rates from Buffalo to Chicago-Light, 871gc. per 100 lbs .; heavy, 621gc .; barrel bulk, $1.50. To Silver Creek, Dunkirk and Barcelona, 25c. to 35c. To Erie, Grand River and Cleveland, 27c. to 40c. To ports West of Cleveland, 30c. to 46c.

A daily line of Steamboats between Buffalo and Toledo, consisting of the Erie, Cleveland, Buffalo, Constellation and Columbus, was estab- lished at that time.

The Blade of July 17, 1839, stated that pas- sengers then "traveled the entire distance from Toledo to New York in three days and 15 hours," as follows :

Toledo to Buffalo (Steamboat). 39 hours

Buffalo to Rochester (stage and railroad) 9

Rochester to Auburn (stage)

Auburn to Albany (railroad)

Albany to New York (steamboat). 10

Delays between Buffalo and New York) 9

Total 87 hours

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History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 87

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1408

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408