USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 24
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And now began what might be called the real commerce of Erie. It was the period when the salt trade flourished ; when that necessary commodity was in demand in the west, and the best known source of supply was Salina, in New York State. Not only was there a moder-
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
ate "boom" in vessel property, but the accompaniments profited as well. Warehouses came into existence. Storage and commission, as well as forwarding flourished. Erie was the entrepot for the salt trade for the whole of the interior-Pittsburg and down the Ohio river. The salt was transported to Waterford, and a new turnpike road was constructed to facilitate the traffic, and Erie became a terminal of both lake and inland commerce. For the period Erie was perhaps the most important port on the lake. Among the pioneer lake cap- tains were Daniel Dobbins, William Lee, Thomas Wilkins (a third generation of the Wilkinses today has a commander on the bridge of a modern steamship) Seth Barney, C. Blake, James Rough, John F. Wight, William Davenport, Levi Allen, John Richards, George Miles and Charles Hayt. In the course of a short time Capt. Richards aban- doned sailing for shipbuilding, at which he was very successful. Then came the steamboat days, and not long afterwards the period when the canal gave stimulus to the commerce of Erie.
The experience of the navigators engaged in the salt trade demon- strated the fact that there was something to be desired in connection with Erie's harbor. Rather, it ought to be said, these navigators con- firmed the verdict brought in by Com. Perry in 1813, because the most pressing need found in the Erie harbor by those engaged in carry- ing salt here was a way to get in, just as Perry's great need was a way to get out, and they are both in effect the same. Erie was then a small place. In the year 1820 its population was only 635. It will probably strike the reader that, being of such diminutive proportions, there could not be much hope that any call that it might raise for as- sistance to the general government for aid in this matter would bring success. But the cry went up, just the same.
There had been a new incentive for the cry. A new era had al- ready dawned. In the year 1818 there was launched at Buffalo a new maritime device. It was called, without reference to official designa- tion or adopted name, the Steam Boat, and this steam boat began at once to make more or less regular trips to the various ports on the lake. Erie was on her list, and here she was a regular visitor. But she was unable to get inside the bay. This was the circumstance which prompted or provoked the cry, and this cry found utterance in the columns of the Genius of the Lakes of October 3, 1818. Nor was it a heed- less, purposeless call. There was a plan behind it and a motive in it. The purpose of the call was to secure if possible the election to Congress of Thomas Wilson, with the expectation that when he got to Washing- ton he would be able to obtain an appropriation. And, like nearly every other movement in aid of a public betterment this had been fitted out with a plan, which was to cut down hemlock trees and, piling them on each side of the tortuous channel at the entrance to the bay, by
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this means hold the sand in place and prevent its being washed down into the current, by which means a more constant and uniform depth might be preserved. What the people wanted was an appropriation ample enough to cut these trees down and pile them in place. Mr. Wilson was elected. An appropriation was secured. The improvement of the harbor entrance was promptly begun. But the newspaper ap- peal and the editors' hemlock tree plan were neither of them in it. There were far greater things in store for Erie.
C
BAY OF PRISQ ISLE.
"A" U.S. Navy Yard, storeHouse and wharf. B" store-house "C. Miscry Bay. " Light house.
"/8/8.
(Sketch by F. G. Lynch from illustration in Genius of the Lakes)
The condition of affairs at Presque Isle Bay came to the at- tention of the government first through Com. Perry's experience, and immediately afterwards by the Commodore's report and recommen- dation. To this had been supplemented memorials from Erie men, some of whom had acquired quite extensive vessel interests. When, therefore. Erie had secured a representative in Congress prompt action was taken. The very next year a general survey was'made of the harbor by the government. Following this up the State appointed Thomas Forster, Giles Sanford and George Moore a commission to survey Erie habor, and appropriated $15,000 for the work. Again the general government came forward and in 1823 appropriated $20,000, which was available in May, 1824, to begin work with.
There is a tolerably reliable, though crude, map of the entrance of the bay as it existed in 1818. It was published in the Genius of the Lakes. This map illustrates the eastern end of the bay with its long and winding channel passing between two long sandbars in the form of tongues, one extending from the mainland out nearly to the penin- sula; the other somewhat similar in form extending from the eastern end of the peninsula almost to the mainland. The plan adopted by
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the government was, not to deepen the natural entrance that existed, but to close it, cutting instead a straight passage directly across both bars from the bay to the anchorage outside. When that passage had been cut, two long piers, one on the north of the passage and another on the south, and 200 feet apart were built, extending from deep water inside to the deep water outside. These piers were flanked by the breakwater that closed the original entrance and another ex- tending north up into Misery bay as far as the mouth of Niagara pond. Then there were built a series of short piers diagonally from the west- ern end of the south pier toward what eventually became the north- ern end of the Public dock. This original plan has been adhered to up to the present time.
But while the original plan still obtains, there have been remark- able changes made in the works at the harbor entrance. Subsequent- ly it became necessary to widen the space between the piers to 350 feet. The channel piers holding the sand upon each side in place, en- sured ample depth of water between them; for the almost constant flow of the water in or out kept the channel there scoured clean down to the very rock foundation. This scouring process, however, de- posited the sand at each end, forming troublesome bars, and at the eastern end this was complicated by the action of the seas and prevail- ing current of the lake carrying vast bodies of sand down the north- ern coast of the peninsula and around the point, depositing them along with the scourings of the channel immediately outside the entrance. For a long time a great amount of dredging was required, both inside and outside to maintain a clear channel, and this was generally accomplished so that the shipping of the time found it usually service- able. The channel was first ready for use in 1827; by the year 1829 there was from seven and a half to fifteen feet over the bar, and in 1833 it was uniformly twelve feet; by 1844 the action of the water between the piers had scoured the channel to 18 feet. But all the while the trouble about the terminal bars continued and meanwhile the piers were falling into decay. With the renewal of the piers came the widening of the channel, and, from time to time, to remedy the trouble of the formation of the bars, the piers were extended. In 1880 there was an extension eastward of 242 feet ; in 1891, 452.15 feet, and in 1893 there was a third extension of 301.4 feet. Since that time extensive permanent improvements have been made upon these piers by constructing the whole of the superstructure of concrete.
Meanwhile there was trouble in another direction. In the win- ter of 1828-29 there occurred a breach in the isthmus at the head of the bay which was of so threatening a character that the engineers felt called upon to give it their entire attention, and the whole of the year's appropriation from Congress, $7,390 was required to stop the gap. The second break occurred in the winter of 1832-33. This was carefully Vol. 1-14
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
examined by Lt. Col. Totten under direction of the chief of engineers, who recommended that the breach be studied for a season with the purpose in view of determining whether another entrance at the west- ern end of the bay might not be maintained. Meanwhile the breach greatly widened until in 1835 there was an opening a mile in width. In that year Lieut. T. S. Brown submitted plans for an opening, guarded by piers 400 feet apart, and work was begun upon it and an ex- tensive plant established there, including barracks for the workmen. The work continued until 1839, when appropriations ceased and noth- ing whatever was done until 1852. Meanwhile the opening was util- ized to a certain extent. Occasionally a vessel would venture through. The steamer Ohio, drawing 73 feet, and the brig Virginia, drawing 53 feet, besides the revenue cutter Erie are recorded as having made the passage, but it did not come into general use. Faint- hearted attempts to complete the work begun were made; then efforts were put forth to save the work that had been done, but at length, in 1856 the work was entirely abandoned and no attention was paid to the matter, one way or another, until 1864, when Col. T. J. Cram was assigned as engineer to have charge of Erie harbor. He found the breach at the west end of the bay entirely closed, nature having effect- ually done the work.
Though the break had been closed the whole of the damage wrought had not been repaired. There was a portion of that isthmus where trees thickly stood at the time the first breach occurred that was washed entirely away, and the repair made by nature was com- plete only during an ordinary or low stage of water. During strong westerly gales the seas still washed over a section about 500 feet in length. There was a different belief in connection with an opening at the head of the bay from what had been. During the twenty-three years of the existence of the passage or channel at the head ample opportunity had been offered to observe the effect. The result was convincing that it was dangerous to the harbor. Col. Cram's first work was to strengthen the weak place, but in 1874 during a heavy gale in November, the seas again broke through. Col. Blunt was then in charge and he first got the passage closed and then proceeded with a bulkhead protection consisting of lines of piles faced with plank, and this was reinforced with an abatis of brush and limestone. Up- wards of a mile of the bulkhead protection, first and last, was con- structed along that shore, and much of it remains to the present time, although the greater part is now in a state of decay. However, sur- veys indicate that there has been a constant accretion of sand in the bight at the west end of the peninsula, so that at the present time and probably for the future there is no apprehension to be felt that there will again be such an opening formed as that of 1834. During the heaviest northwest gales it still occurs that the water, raised by the
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pressure of the wind and carried forward by the impetuous seas, will sweep in a strong stream across into the bay cutting gullies of con- siderable depth. Upon the subsidence of the wind, however, when the water falls back to normal, its level is considerably below the land, and in the course of a short time the depressions made by the torrents are drifted full of sand by the wind and sometimes dunes of considerable height were formed.
Some danger from the erosion of the north shore was apprehended, and not without cause. In 1873 the government erected a brick light- house on the summit of the arc of the north shore. This lighthouse, long generally known as the Flash Light, was in reality the third lighthouse built for Erie harbor. The first which was the first on the lakes to be built by the government, was located on a piece of land east of the city and opposite the entrance to the harbor-a sightly piece of ground on a high bluff, ceded by Gen. John Kelso, in 1818. The lighthouse then built stood until 1858, when a new house was built of Milwaukee brick, but that in turn gave place in 1866 to a tower of gray sandstone, one of the handsomest on the coast. It cost the government $20,000. In 1880 the Lighthouse board decided to discontinue this light, but so strong a protest was made by the citi- zens, who secured the backing of the vessel interests, that it was re- stored and continued until finally abandoned and dismantled, the light was last exhibited December 26, 1899. The second lighthouse estab- lished here was the beacon or Harbor Light at the east end of the north channel pier which was placed in position in 1830. Wrecked by a collision with a schooner, it was replaced in 1858 by an iron tower, which has from time to time been moved farther eastward as the pier has been extended. This with its complement of range lights is prob- ably the most important of the harbor guides of Erie.
It was in 1873 that the lighthouse on the outer shore of the penin- sula was built, and it cost $15,000. It was planted a considerable dis- tance back from the shore line among the dunes of which Presque Isle is formed. In the course of time, however, by the process of erosion the water steadily advanced inland until at length the light- house property was seriously threatened. Nor was this washing away of the land confined to that vicinity. The same force was in operation all along that low coast, for, when saturated with water, the sand is exceedingly mobile. In places the washing away of the sand had pro- duced so much weakness that during heavy gales the seas swept across the low ridges, filling the ponds behind them with sand and overturning the largest of the timber. The first attention of the engineers was given to the saving of the lighthouse property. With this end in view a pier or mole was constructed out into the lake at right angles with the shore and a short distance east of the lighthouse. The effect was immediate and satisfactory in every particular. The sand was
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
caught in the upper angle and accumulating, both by the action of the seas, and by being drifted when dry by the wind, in the course of time formed a beach more than 1,000 feet wide, and apparently forever re- moved the danger to which the property had been exposed. This ex- pedient was resorted to farther west, where trouble had occurred, and piers Nos. 1 and 2 were built and are successfully employed.
The credit for the revival of interest in the harbor of Erie, by which the improvements made were of a permanent character is due to Hon. Samuel A. Davenport, who, while a member of Congress, devoted his efforts to that especial work. The son of one of the earliest prominent lake navigators, it was not unnatural that he should take an interest in Erie's harbor. Besides that natural bent, if you please, Mr. Daven- port had that quality of good citizenship, which, being observant of a public need, feels the necessity of providing a means to remedy it. When he was named in connection with the nomination for congress- man-at-large, the fact that he was interested in securing from the Na- tional government the means to render Erie harbor secure, and besides, bring it up to the requirements of the time, induced a number of Erie men of prominence, regardless of their party affiliations, to take an in- terest in his candidacy. The result was that, in 1896, he was elected. Immediately Hon. S. A. Davenport addressed himself to the work in hand. Never before was the subject entered into with so much thoroughness and detail. Mr. Davenport found, when he came to pre- sent the matter to the engineers department, and the committee of Con- gress to which it belonged, that he could barely obtain a hearing. There were reports on file and records of their kind, but these seemed to be of a character adverse to hope, and at a distance so remote as Washington it was apparently impossible to secure the attention de- sired.
Mr. Davenport was not discouraged. Returning to Erie he called the camera into requisition and secured photographs of the government work of years before, all gone to decay. He obtained pictures in large number, of bulkhead remains; of the piling in ruins, of the channel piers fast disappearing-in short of the actual condition of things as they existed at the time. Besides he was prepared with data con- cerning the demands of commerce of the time, and statements of fact with reference to the inadequate conditions at Erie to meet the de- mands. When he returned to Washington he was fortified. What he presented to the committee was interesting. It was convincing. It pro- duced an instant effect. A visit to Erie was decided upon by the com- mittee of Congress, and when it was seen that the pictures told but half of the story, the matter was settled. It was late to get a place in the general appropriation measure, but a way was found to take care
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of the case. An appropriation was voted for $375,000, a third of it available immediately.
It was out of this fund that the piers on the north shore of the Peninsula were constructed so as to prevent the erosion of the coast, and the work that has made the channel piers permanent, by con- structing the superstructure of concrete, is also a part of the better- ment that resulted. The deepening of the channel so that vessels of twenty-two feet draft may enter was another work that resulted, and, for the first time in the history of the harbor of Erie there were funds that seemed sufficient for the needs available with which to do the work. It is proper to add that Erie has not lacked for means since the work was inaugurated by Mr. Davenport. The present representative in Congress from the Erie district, Hon. Arthur L. Bates, continues the work, made easier to his hand by what was done when Mr. Davenport inaugurated his campaign of informa- tion. The appropriations that have been made by Congress for Erie harbor, from first to last have been as follows :
1823
$ 150.00
June 10, 1872 $ 15,000.00
May 26, 1824
20,000.00
June 23, 1874
20,000.00
May 25, 1826
7,000.00
March 3, 1875
30,000.00
March 2. 1827
2,000.00
August 14, 1876 40,000.00
May 19, 1828
6,223.18
June 16. 1878 25.000.00
March 3. 1829
7.390.25
March 3, 1879
25.000.00
March 2, 1831
1,700.00
June 14, 1880
25,000.00
July 3, 1832
4,500.00
March 3, 1881 20,000.00
March 2, 1833
6,000.00
August 2, 1882 20,000.00
June 28, 1834
23,045.00
July 5, 1884 50.000.00
March 3, 1835
5,000.00
.August 5, 1886
37.500.00
July 2, 1836
15.122.80
August 11, 1888
83,000.00
March 3. 1837
15.000.00
September 19. 1890
40,000.00
July 7, 1838
30,000.00
July 13, 1892
40,000.00
June 11, 1844
40,000.00
August 18, 1894
10,000.00
August 30, 1852
30,000.00
May 11, 1896
1.289.33
1864 (allotment)
15,000.00
March 3, 1899
125,000.00
June 23, 1866
36,961.00
June 13, 1902
125,000.00
March 2, 1867
25,000.00
March 3, 1905
125,000.00
1869 (allotment)
22,275.00
Received from sales
4.724.39
June 11. 1870
20,000.00
March 3, 1871
29,000.00
Total
$1.442,880.95
1871 (allotment)
10,000.00
1868 (allotment)
40,000.00
March 2, 1907
120,000.00
The United States Life-saving service on Lake Erie was organ- ized in 1876 by Captain Douglas Ottinger of Erie of the revenue ser- vice. Capt. Ottinger was for many years interested in the saving of life from the effect of storms on the coasts of the United States. He claimed as his the invention of the life car, an important device in its day, made famous at the beginning by the rescue of a large number of persons from the Ship Ayrshire on the coast of New Jersey. His claim as inventor of this device was contested by Capt. Francis, but Capt. Ottinger's connection with the service, and the number
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of other inventions in connection with the rescue of people from wrecked vessels, became recognized at an early day. When, there- fore it was determined to establish the Life Saving service on Lake Erie, the work of effecting an organization was assigned to Capt. Ottinger, then in command of the revenue cutter Com. Perry. Shortly afterwards, he was succeeded in regular charge by Capt. D. P. Dobbins of Buffalo, a native of Erie, who continued until his death, August 20, 1892, when he was succeeded by Capt. Chapman of Oswego, with headquarters at Buffalo. The Ninth district as finally organized, under the supervision of Capt. Chapman, includes Lakes Ontario and Erie and the Falls of the Ohio, at Louisville, Ky. The stations on Lake Erie are at Buffalo, Erie, Ashtabula, Cleveland, Fairport and Point Marblehead.
At Erie the original life saving station was built in 1826 on the north shore of the peninsula near its eastern end, with Clark Jones in charge. It was found to be an inconvenient place, being diffi- cult of access, and not a good location to render efficient service, except in the immediate vicinity. Accordingly in 1877, the station was removed to the north channel pier, at the harbor entrance, and in the same year William Clark took charge. He served efficiently until 1891, when he was drowned while trying to rescue the pas- sengers of the steamer Badger State, aground in a storm on the north shore of the peninsula. His successor was Capt. Andrew P. Jansen, still in charge. Since the station was located on the channel pier the equipment was added to from time to time with a view to keeping the efficiency of the service to as high a degree as possible, a notable addition to the apparatus being a new and im- proved self-righting and self-bailing life boat of the English pat- tern, a boat that had been on exhibition at the Columbian Exposi- tion at Chicago, which was put into service at Erie in 1894.
The light-houses of Erie have already been alluded to. The original Erie Light, that was established on the point east of Erie and opposite the old-time anchorage near the entrance to the bay, was established and the first tower built in 1818, and it was the first lighthouse on the chain of great lakes. It was rebuilt of brick in 1858, and again rebuilt of stone in 1866, when an improved lan- tern of French manufacture was installed. The keepers have been : Capt. John Bone, 1818; Robert Kincaide, 1833; Griffith Henton, 1841; Eli Webster, 1841; James W. Miles, 1849; John Graham, 1854; Gen. James Fleming, 1858, and A. C. Landon, same year; John Goalding, 1861; George Demond, 1864; A. J. Fargo, 1871; George W. Miller, 1885, until the light was discontinued.
The Presque Isle Pier Head, or Beacon Light was erected on the north pier in 1830, and its keepers have been: up to 1861, with dates of appointment not set down, William T. Downs, Benjamin
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Fleming, John Hess and Leonard Vaughn; George W. Bone was appointed in 1861 ; Richard P. Burke, 1863; Frank Henry, 1869 ; Chas. D. Coyle, 1884; Robert Hunter, 1889; Thomas L. Wilkins, 1898. Assistants: James Johnson, 1873; C. E. McDannell, 1881; William H. Harlow, 1885; Robert Hunter, 1886; Thomas L. Wilkins, 1889; Edward Pfister, 1892; John W. Reddy, 1894.
Presque Isle Light, generally known as the flash-light, was built on the north shore of the peninsula in 1873. Its keepers have been, Charles T. Waldo, 1873 ; three appointments were made in 1880, none of which held-they were George E. Irvin, A. J. Harrison and O. J. McAllister. At length, in the fall of the same year George E. Town of North East was appointed and held the position until 1883, when Clark M. Cole took it; Lewis Vannatta entered in 1886; Lewis Wal- rose in 1891, and Thomas L. Wilkins in 1892.
The United States weather and signal office was established at Erie in 1873, and has been located in the Federal building ever since it was completed.
OLD LIGHT HOUSE
CHAPTER XXII .- THE PENINSULA.
ITS ATTRACTIONS .- CHANGES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE .- CRANBERRY DAY .- ITS TRANSFER TO THE U. S. GOVERNMENT.
Presque Isle Bay is such by reason of the peninsula-it is the pen- insula that gives the bay its name. The peninsula is a tract of low sandy land with a coast (its northern boundary) of about eight miles, which is its greatest length. Its greatest width is about a mile and a half, but nearly half the area enclosed by its boundaries consists of water, contained in numerous small lakes or ponds, many of them communicat- ing but more of them landlocked, and almost without exception beautiful little bodies of water. The origin of the peninsula, according to Mr. J. C. Quintus, a government engineer for several years stationed at Erie, was the action of the water which by the current that sets toward the east, accelerated by the winds, carrying the sand in its progress, formed a "hook." Undoubtedly at the beginning the hook was a small affair, but, the action continuing in time this hook, growing larger, and higher as the sand was heaped up during the high stages of water that prevail during westerly gales, the hook, when the wind subsided was above the level of the water. Drying in the sun, the sand was carried about by the winds forming dunes that raised the surface still higher, each storm making a fresh contribution of material which in its turn became operated upon by the wind. Meanwhile the current was extending the hook toward the east, and from time to time as the storms from the opposite direction acted upon the prolongation of the hook there was a tendency to curve the end of it in towards the mainland. By this process bodies of water were enclosed behind these spurs, and thus the ponds were formed. This process has been continuous ; it is not yet at an end. Very many residents of Erie of the present day have, by observation been able to verify this scientific theory, for they have witnessed the formation of the deep round pond northeast of the channel lightkeeper's dwelling, which, twenty-five years ago, was a wide-mouthed bay, known as Horse- shoe Bight, opening directly from the lake. It is now landlocked.
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