Thank you for posting your stories here on my blog. I'm certain we will all enjoy reading each others adventures along the canal.
Jeff Maximovich
The Johnny Apple Seed of the Ohio & Erie Canal
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The Johnny Apple Seed of the Ohio & Erie Canal
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2,142 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2001 – 2142 of 21422084-Campbell’s Mill lock 31 has an interesting approach as the canal made its turn east from a southerly course. There’s not much left to see of the former canal through this particular area except for bits and pieces. The canalbed itself is in excellent condition as it turns towards the lock chamber, the only that’s missing is the water. This section of the canal seems to be rather wider that the average width.
2085-I was recently asked this question, Where did the canawlers live during the winter months? I would imagine they lived onboard their vessel, I would also imagine it was pretty darn cold. These folks were different that most everyone in society then, they owned no home that was stationary or an address, and schooling was minimal for their children. Those days were different than those we know today. If we want groceries, just jump in the car and everything is in one place under one roof. During the 1800s mercantile stores were new on to the scenes, formerly trading post. The trading post were basically outpost were goods could be bought and traded for, usually were found along a river, cross roads, pioneer trails and stage routes. Generally where ever a mercantile store opened a town eventually rose up. It was the Ohio and Erie Canal through the combined efforts of merchants, manufacturing companies and the boats moving freight that made it possible to fill the shelves by delivering goods. Life along the canal was difficult, especially during the winter months, it was hard enough during the good months to turn a profit and be able to prepare for the cold months, and they were mid November into the thaw usually late February or early March. The boats were equipped with a pot belly stove which served as heat and cooking. Meat was gathered by hunting, wood was abundant and whatever was stored onboard sustained life through the winter months. During the winter, one could find a canal boat anywhere along the canal, most families tied up nearer to a town. Life was hard and no one became rich plying a canal boat. They lived at home during the winter; home was wherever they pulled over till the spring.
2086-The standard canal boat was built with the best technology of its day. To be quite honest, they were probably built better than today’s boats, surely had a stronger backbone any fiberglass boat built nowadays. The craftsmanship was actually an art form; the wood was bent and fashioned to fit into place making the vessel water tight. Those days, good paint wasn’t around and for protection the wood was greased or tarred and even pine sap had the ability to ward off rot for a number of years. Generally the boats rotted from the inside out from rain which lay in the bilges and remained so in the cracks and split the hull apart during the winter freeze. Urine from the animals that made up the teams that pulled the boats contributed greatly to premature decay by passing through the floor lying on the keel area. To be a bit more descriptive, when a mule urinates, its several gallons, the smell must have been overtaking. The boats design made use of the heavy burden placed upon it by tightening up the heavier the payload. The hull squeezed tighter together by design with the overlay structure of it outer boards.
2087-Lock 42 has always been illusive to me, we all certainly know where the second of the two ended up at the ship turnaround area. Common sence tell one that the lock was moved back to the south after the Valley Railroad took the northern end of the Ohio and Erie Canal for their use. Up the former canal bed from the limestone piles near a sharp bend on the river near 3rd street a couple of block stones can still be found heaped up into a pile near a utility pole. A weigh station was positioned near by, although I don’t think there’s a trace of that. We do know that the second of the two weigh stations sat only yards south of the latter lock 42.
2088-We’re in the middle of February’s cold hard freeze. I can’t think of anything worse than being so cold, being outside in the elements. Back in the day, one would have to fetch for wood, shoot some critter, bust through the ice to get drinking water, just to survive. The winter months were the worst of them all, one could deal with the heat and the pesky insects during the summer, generally relief could be found in the cool evenings. Many of the boats who had designated carries could tie up along side a basin or even nearer to a factory and in many instances find work there. Those winter months also enabled the children to catch some schooling. Along the canal there were a few places where the boats were able to seek winter storage and could congregate amonst other canawlers. Generally large basins worked fine for that purpose and the larger water supply reservoirs served well for the winter. The winter communities along the canal provided security for many with power to survive better in large numbers.
2089- During the building phase of our Ohio and Erie Canal, many lives were lost to sickness, but the invisible killer may not have been typhoid and cholera in many instances mistaken to be..Poison Ivy was just as deadly if inhaled, by doing so to a person who can contract it, untreated will terminate ones life. Mosquitos were a source of sickness being the Yellow Fever and Malaria which took many lives. To ward off the pesky insects, the shrubbery was burned, and it worked well, the smoke cleared the area of the biting horse flies and mosquitos. The smoke which was burdened heavy with posion oak, poison ivy, sumac and other skin irritation plants would carry this into the lungs and eyes of the worker. The engineers never could figure this out with only limited medical training or none and there was no known cures for any deseases then, except for rest, a pint of whiskey would ease the pain.
2090-Was Austin Powder Company located at the Five Mile Lock? It wasn't, but just a bit further south.Until the railways arrived, most of the companies coal needs arrived by either wagon or the coal mines of Tuscaraws County. Old pictures do reveal an area where a canal boat could pull along side and offload its payload.I don't believe that black powder was actually made there, but it was a coal processing plant that would grind the coal into a fine powder to be mixed elsewhere making gun powder. This plant did meets its end in 1907 do to an explosion. By the time it exploded, this company expanded largely and decades had passed since any supplies had been brought up the canal from canal boats. By 1907, a railway staging yard 5 deep set directly next to the five mile lock. In that same year, there wasn't a handful of canal business passing through lock 41.
2091-I took the opertunity to browse around the canal in Tuscarawas County today along State Route 36 from Lock Seventeen going west ending up at Unusual Junction. I managed to acquire some history abouts its strange name, it being that a B&O Station sat right there and Lock 24 shared the same loading area simutaniously. Its no secret that the railways through Ohio got their starts following the canal systems. I was also imformed that many of the block stones there now are from Lock 24 after it was torn out years ago. The former location of Lock 24 is easy to locate, it once sat at the nursery across from Unusual Junction. The nursery still has block stones of the former lock at its site. Lock 23 is a bit more illusive and was removed during the SR.36 expansion and widening project, but can be located. To find the specific area of the former lock we must either have a map or hard evidence. Back during my research long ago, I relied on finding tangible pieces of the former lock, now maps back up my findings. After leaving Canal Road from Newcomerstown, crossing the Culvert turn left and climb 36 and at the top sits a row of trees on the left with a trailer mobile home park off in the distance. Inside this row of tress are many scattered blockstones of lock 23. The lock was destroyed and made into road fill, but some of the construction blocks remained uncovered. This sight can be verified and my fellow researcher from Newcomerstowns confirms my finding as correct.
Lock Seventeen , why not the number 17 Canalwayman said...
2092-Lock Seventeen sits in Tuscarawas County near Gnadenhutten, the Tuscarawas River and the connection of State Routes 416 and 36. Both roads once shared the same name, Canal Road. Lock Seventeen has its own road also by the same name that heads southeast from the former lock to where it once crossed a bridge into Gnadenhutten, the bridge had been removed. How did Lock Seventeen acquire its name? Why was it changed from a numeral into the word spelled out? During the construction phase of the canal and years to follow, Lock Seventeen was a numeral instead of the word. Mostly each and every lock developed its own name, for instance, Campbell’s Mill Lock 31 in Pickaway County, or Wolf Creek in Barberton. It was easier to call a lock by its name rather than a number for one very simple reason as follows. For instance, if one said we’ll be leaving lock 14 at noon, he could be at one of four locations. On the northern slope from Akron to Cleveland at mile 36 is a lock 14, named Cascade Mills, on the southern slope from Barberton to Dresden Junction is another 14 in Goshen named the Newcastle lock. Seventy miles further down the canal on the climb to the Licking Summit was Rocky Fork lock 14, on the decline to the Ohio River was another at mile 207 called Smallwood. Lock Seventeen was once an unofficial post office as nearly all the locks were at one time or another. To guarantee that the post got to the correct lock without a name would be hard to do, it was given a name the postal service would easily recognize that being the word Seventeen rather than a number.
2093- I was recently asked this question about Lock Seventeen: Where are all the block stone which once made up the lock chamber? Well I can’t say for certain where they all ended up, but several are directly behind the old mill now part of a retaining wall in the front yard of the old white house. Most of the stones remained near the chamber because of their great weight which makes it hard to move them. This particular lock wasn’t rebuilt during the rehabilitation project during the early years of the 20th century, left as a block stone structure. The year 1929, marks the year which the canal was officially abandoned, and thus placed it in history as a major thoroughfare never to re-open. I would imagine that any block stone removal was done in the dark hours on the state owned chambers, done so to avoid getting caught stealing. In many cases, the locks were owned and bought privately, thus giving leeway to do whatever. Today’s world would probably prohibit such an act in the northern part of the state where great ambition to revitalize the canals history is in motion. Down south below Newark, the overall interest hasn’t yet caught on and the locks and property in many instances are privately owned allowing the owners to do whatever with the historic structures.
2094-Cutlers Station was located just beyond lock 47, and there’s not anything left to see proving its exact whereabouts. What I do know is this, some locals who knew something about the area in question, said where it would have been along the canal and hi-way. Being that Cutler’s property bordered up to theirs, they had some insight. Cutlers station wasn’t any big deal, any big market or a mercantile store, and didn’t house a overnight stay either according to my info source.. The big place was 12 miles down at lock 49 at Crichton’s Inn, a hotel, fine dining and was both a changing station for the canal and coach lines, and of course (John Hunt Morgan ) ? stayed there too. What Cutlers station was simply a stage coach stop for Western Star Stagecoach Line, a place where fresh horses were available. These changing stations were located every 12 to 15 miles apart. The Ohio & Erie Canal come through years later and made their own stables at Cutlers Station as well, it supplied fresh mules, a place where you could exchange them hopefully received a team of rested up and well fed animals to tug the canal boat. Places like Cutlers Station were ideal locations on a pre-established trade route. Being so, made it possible for the state to take away business from the coach lines, and did so, crippling them in certain areas.. Also being close to the Scioto River, Cutlers Station also a trading post and housed provisions for trade goods off and onto the river as well, taking place during the late 1700s, The station originally was opened by the French traders that settled Scioto County and lived largely in Portsmouth along the river. During the Civil War, Cutlers station was burned and destroyed by the infamous Morgan’s Raiders who jumped back and forth across the Ohio River doing hit and run damage. I was told that the canal never moved any troops or munitions .Morgan done damage on the canal locks by destroying some of the doors and burning the locktenders quarters and even killing them who worked the locks. Morgan struck so much fear in folks, that nearly all freight through southern Ohio being by Canal, river, and stage coach and passengers avoided Scioto County and other counties that bordered the Ohio River. Cutlers station never lived long a changing station for the boats who worked the canal, by the mid to late 1830s, most boats houses their own team of replacement animals. The stations were notorious for having beaten down mules, disease stricken and under nourished replacements. The idea was good, its concept was to supply good strong mules and the money raised was paid to the canal commission for their usage. As I stated before, because this idea to supply fresh animals hadn’t worked to well, all the boats who could afford an extra team had done so, thus pushing the changing station out of existence. Having the mules on-board sparked new issues, they were dirty and the stench was overbearing for passengers, thus revitalizing new life back into the stage lines. Coming into the 1840s, the passengers who moved on the canal was very minimal, it trickled down to zero. The average passenger had a bad experience and the word spread quickly. By 1843 passenger travel had ceased and the packets were converted to freighters.
2095---
I find it interesting that the Ohio and Erie Canal had any impact on our state’s economy. How? Apparently this system was imprisoned by weather, floods. It makes logical sense that an over- the- road mode of transportation was more reliable! What was the state thinking? Why did not the state place more responsibility on the stagecoaches rather than waste millions on the canal blunder?
2096 to 2095-The stage coaches basically moved people. Let’s face it; there wasn’t too much room for anything else on-board. Each and every town and village had someone there who moved goods down the old old roads of Ohio. Still as the canal experienced many obstacles, over the road means had its own set of problems too. Back then, a hard surface was rare and a good rain left anyone in a buggy, coach or wagon stuck in the mud. Any bridges were haphazardly built and un-reliable. Any good storm would have stopped over the road transportation for a moment. Times cried out for changes, although the stage coach lines connected the state, the inability to move freight was still at a standstill. The prices of agricultural goods were at an all time low, thus stemming from that the growers only produced what they needed to survive on. The answer finally arrived when the canal project got underway, the state encouraged farmers to plant far and wide and brokers were being set in motion learning how to handle this load. The farmers impatiently waited and grew crops as the canal was becoming operational beginning in the north. After a couple of years of total confusion, stemming from new starts, a good reliable system was in here and our farmers began to show a profit. The mercantile stores began bringing in goods from distant places and different food items as well. Stores sprang up at many lock locations, more so where multiple locks were. The locking time at the lock enabled passengers to get off, stretch and perhaps do some shopping. I was told that in places the store owners also ran the locks, being lock tenders and store owners who deliberately took their good old time getting a boat through. I hope this explains why the stage coaches hadn’t a chance at survival by moving any large amount of goods overland, not to mention there was serious problem with bandits, these men hi-jacked and often killed the men operating a moving wagon. More men were placed onboard with scatter guns but had little effect on a bandit with a long rifle. A coach or freight wagon could carry small tonnage and often had to un- load to get unstuck, where a canal boat was very reliable carrying 60.000 lbs on a good day. Although much slower that a wagon delivered so much more.
2097
2096-Wagons provived the essentials to construct the O&E Canal! Wagons were also the main moad of transportation until the invention of the automobile!
2097-I was asked if there was more than one pumping station on the Ohio & Erie Canal, and if there were, where they were located? I presume the stations are of those that piped water into the manufacturing facilities for cooling and other usages. This question could have an answer that spans a century or longer. I also presume that the pumping station in question is the one up north near 49th Street. More water was pumped off the Cuyahoga River than the canal when applicable. The Canal Commission wouldn’t allow anyone to go over or under the canal except for utilities, if you needed water then it was pumped from the canal into your business, if it was a distance off. Many places had their company built on the canal and water would enter on a high side and be used then exit back in, for instance, B.F.Goodrich in Akron still has a prime example of that. A lock was placed at the southern end of the Upper Basin that distinctly made an elevation to assure water entered the plant. Kargill Salt in Kenmore a suburb of Akron yet uses water off the canal. Firestone Rubber located in Akron has an intake and exhaust channel still there, but un-used. The Akron steam plant makes use of canal water. A prime example of piping water up into a plant can be found at Kingsbury Run off Independence Ave on the tracks once the canal. Barberton still pulls water from the canal which is still adjusted by a rather good size weir. Nearly every town which had any type of manufacturing going on, placed their companies either on the canal, or a river. Union Mills in Portsmouth for instance, used the canal water of the Scioto River to make Alcohol and whiskey. Every distillery along the canal used canal water. After the southern end had fell into disarray after 1880, Union Mills needed water to operate, too far from the river to place in a suitable pumping station and the Scioto river ran only inches deep in the summer left them without any choice, except to keep the canal operational. Union Mills keep upkeep on the canal a good forty miles from where the water entered at the Tomlinson Feeder, they weren’t too concerned about any navigation, but an ample supply of water was in their best interest, that meant keeping several aqueducts standing.. Some water was taken at the Jasper Guard lock when availible as well to assure abundance down below.
2098-Unfortunatly for all of us the Ohio and Erie Canal never survived the times, pushed aside by technology and basically was forgotten for decades. The same could be said for every canal system Ohio once stood so proud of. To see a boat going through locking would have been such an experience. The stories told at these places would have been dazzling to say the least. The canal systems were once the communication link from Lake Erie to the Ohio River linking the Mississippi and the Gulf. Lucky for us here at home there is still hope! The Muskingum Parkway is home to several working locks. I have spent countless hours on this parkway and watched the boats go up and down. The Muskingum River had the first locks in our state going back to 1817, years before all others. These locks can handle a boat of considerable size and are in great shape. Today, nothing of size maneuvers these huge structures and rarely do both gates have to open. Only small craft pass these locks and the massive doors seldom both have to open to allow clearance. A enormous amount of planning went forth to create this spectacle and the workmanship is second to none. To wrap up its worth to the state, well we could say that it was a huge burden that never redeemed itself. I have spoken to the Lock tenders who told me that a yearly pass to navigate all the locks is a mere cost of $35.00. I asked then why does the state keep it open; wouldn't closing it be cost effective to just close it up? His reply was, it’s kept open with federal money and any maritime waterway of its proportion is a military right of way.
2099 to 2097-I don’t think we need a lesson about what replaced what, or maybe we do. This has been gone over a hundred times but let’s do er again.
The same year the Ohio and Erie Canal opened a railway line was laid from Hilliard Ohio to Pleasant Valley. Not Very far just outside Columbus, but the train got up 15MPH, not bad for then. The state was locked in a crazy canal frenzy, heck they wanted them everywhere. There weren’t any manufacturing companies then making rail, these tracks were wooden with steel overlay. The industrial revolution just hasn't hit yet, but was looming on the horizon. Some of countries first metal rails were built in Cleveland. The first trains were horse drawn and the object was that these pulled cars on rails they never got bogged down in the mud and travel was weather resistant and huge loads moved smoothly. Before our canals, and the next state over, they were waiting for technology to arrive. In or about 1820 the first locomotive was sailing across the Atlantic in pieces, destination? Pennsylvania. From New York it was brought overland by wagon. Upon arrival the first locomotive was about to set a trend, English built, named (Stourbridge Lion ) it soon began rolling, and soon to be part of the B&O. The train revolution was still 3 decades from maturing and taking a foot hold, but when it done so, the canals were finished. The trains in reality are here to stay, always will be, but they once moved the general population, everyone took the train, then it fell to the automobile and later joined by air travel. Today our great rivers move massive amounts of coal and ore; neither barge nor ship can yet move the amounts done by train.
Hello Jeff!
Glad to see you are back! I always love reading your posts. I still learn a lot from you.
• 2100-Why was the groundbreaking for the Ohio and Erie Canal performed on the Licking Summit? Proximity would be the answer being it was closer to the state capital. Although the northern section of the canal accelerated in commerce at a rate the southern end never experienced through the duration of the canals hey-days, the state never anticipated it either. Water was the deciding factor which boosted the economy, and the north had a more reliable source with larger rivers. Walnut Creek, the Scioto River and the Big Belly Gahanna of southern Ohio experienced absolute drought years. These streams ran so low with merely inches to work with left the canal to low to operate. The reservoirs, both the old and the new on the Licking Summit were fed from the South fork Feeder, or call it the South fork of the Licking River. It’s a known fact that the southfork ran dry during the summer months and deep cut section ran so low the boats got stuck. Millersport actually grew in size because the boats were stranded there. Buckeye Lake formerly the reservoirs had a shrinking shoreline in the heat of summer. Up north, they had similar issues, but not nearly as bad, the rivers were more consistent and larger, them being the Cuyahoga, Tuscarawas, Walhonding ,Muskingum and dozens of minor creeks and streams all developing enough water to operate the canal more efficiently than southern Ohio’s streams could ever do.. When the groundbreaking was taking place, the officials visualized great towns springing up around the reservoirs, Circleville, Chillicothe, Portsmouth and many other places. The great hope to move produce on to The Ohio River to foreign and distant markets by the canal was the driving force behind the digging of this canal but travel was often interupted. But in 1825, Cleveland was barely a village with few inhabitants, Akron was small too. Ship building along the Cuyahoga was growing and this moved industry into the area and steel was beginning to be manufactured there on the Cuyahoga and they needed wood to burn, it came up the canal. It was wood that fired the furnaces from( Cordwood county) “in slang” a section of Stark County where the fields were cleared, the wood was cut and stacked and sold to the mills in Cleveland too burn. Coal was found in abundance in Tuscarawas County adding to the usage of the canal which became busy. Farm Products, industry, and travel was strong for about 30 years on the canal, the southern end slumbered the entire time the canal was open for business and closed up years ahead of the great canal demise of Easter 1913.
Hey Canaldog glad to hear from you, hows life been treating you?
2101- Were ever the canal systems ever under an Indian attack?
2102-It’s ironic that so many names of places here in Ohio are named after Indians, for instance streams, rivers, counties and even towns. The ironic part of it is that the Indians were pushed out and moved off of Ohio soil. Even the word Ohio is an Iroquian name (OHIIYO). Were there Indian attacks on our canal boats, probably, yes? The Indians were settling down in hostilities by the time the canalways opened, yet they were a beaten people, some of them carried great hostilities towards the white man. I read of a couple of instances where the boats were attacked and the passengers killed. These things were kept quiet for a scare would disrupt canal service. As gruesome as it sounds, in one particular attack the Indians jumped on the boat killing the men and took the woman and girls. The one woman had a newborn and a brave swung the baby by its feet crashing its head onto a tree killing it. The woman and girls were recovered when soldiers from Chillicothe searched and found them. The Indians didn’t want to give up their lands and so many ill written treaties were broken. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law an article for the removal of all the Indian tribes from several states, Ohio being one of them. This unfair declaration over ruled every standing and living treaty active then. Too resistant and stay put, was surely a death sentence. The Indians were paid little for their lands and usually were swindled out of that. The course of the canal systems here in Ohio followed the rivers; the Indians lived there and had to be removed by any means, and were exterminated. Out of fear, many tribes hooked up with missionaries and laid down their weapons to survive. Portsmouth had plenty of boats attacked by the Indians who had an encampment at the Scioto and Ohio Rivers trying to control river travel. They met with resistance and were eventually all killed. While the canal digging was being done in Licking County in the Blackhand Gorge many diggers were dying, they met their demise being hit with arrows, stemming from that a detachment of soldiers were sent in to clear the area, many died on both sides, the canal pushed on.
2103-When the canal finally had opened; just being a part, a crew member, captain any member of a boat team nearly made them (Super Stars) of the times. These boats and men were met and greeted with open arms up and down our canalways. People lined up as the approaching boats slowly made their way into town and little boy’s dreams were too be part of it someday gazing on. A prime example of this great welcome can be relayed back to Newark and its famed (Gingerbread Row). This area was a gathering place where many taverns lined the canal, a place where the boatmen mingled with the townspeople. Its fame was far and wide and was more widely known for its places of ill-repute. After a while, just like any good thing, it gets old, and it really did. Going in to the 1840s these welcome guests weren’t so welcome, causing disturbances and ruckus. The water front became a place of hostilities and soon the boats weren’t as welcome as they once were the first five or so years the canal had opened. This upheaval of drunkenness wasn’t attached to Newark only, but spread like wildfire the whole distance making its way into every town, up and down the Silver Ribbon.
The wife and I are doing well. Haven't had time for exploring because of work. But still doing a lot of reading on local history.
2104- Mr.Canalwayman, I live in Waverly and work in Chillicothe. Everyday the drive makes me ponder about the canaldays using Three Locks Road. Wlkipedia and our history falls short of recognition of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Was Chillicothe of such great importance before and after the duration of the canal that its memory of the famous canal fell to the wayside?
2105- There was an awful lot of pork in Chillicothe in its pre canal era. I’m not entirely referring to live stock either. There was considerably more pork of the livestock nature being moved down the canal to Cincinnati after the canal opened up. Chillicothe had the pork of the politicians who fought hard, hard in keeping changes from taking place. They were on a quest making sure state capital remains in Ross County at any cost. On the horizon loomed the talk of great changes, actually moving the state house into Zanesville. The powers to be were corrupt and out of control, but the move went forth, but the politicians left behind had already made plans to disable the new state capital. Moving proved to be a terrible blunder, the powers of Chillicothe manage restore the capital again at home. Zanesville, just as bad, was filled with corrupt politicians who grabbed onto the glory of being the new capital, snubbing their noses at Chillicothe, but for only a short time. Zanesville wasn’t any improvement either; but even worse, it was filled with glory hounds that began mismanaging our state at its most early and vulnerable levels. Its leaders quickly jumped on same big shady land deals offered , designed to help the settlers and war grants that were given to soldiers were bought illegally making them are elected officials giant profits. Zanesville did looked more attractive it being located on the Muskingum River. On paper, Zanesville was planning to be this great navigational route with multiple looks being built, a place where towns would spring up and thrive, that alone sparkled in the eyes of many stockholders, some were statesmen working in the capital, to them made better financial sense than Chillicothe’s location on the Scioto River that often ran dry. The promise of this great waterway looked rewarding and the ambitions of great fortunes swayed many to move into the area. After the state capital was moved to Zanesville, I understand that Chillicothe was in complete disarray. The main political arenas of lawyers and politicians never pulled up their roots nor followed the state house to Zanesville. While the state capital had moved away for these couple years, its mainstream of representatives stays behind in protest, thus any decision making at the House of Representatives was hindered, to time costly, this alone was an act of defiance, a strong message to restore order. Clearly in order for our states government to work, they had to be together, in one area. Zanesville lost its seat as the state capital, and again all the state’s business was being carried out in the hands of greedy politicians back in Chillicothe. A group of opposing politicians who felt again threatened by their unsuccessful maneuvers paid dearly, they were shunned and placed on a don’t do business with them list and further weren’t even recognized nor heard in legislation, and eventually some moved on. The greed and land swindling from that capital in Ross County was so out of control, but again drew attention and those who opposed them before, pushed again, but harder and gained support to move the capital away from this power hungry squad. The governor and his entourages put together large amounts of money and bought thousands of acres of district 11s congress lands and sold it to the settlers for huge profits.. Now that order has been restored, Chillicothe sat back and laughed at Zanesville, but the laughter would be short lived. The pork of our states government sat in Chillicothe who was now more than ever, very, very, comfortably convinced they were untouchable. They weren’t let history tells what happened next.
2106 to 2104 Wikipedia can be open for lots of interpretation and corrections and debate. Mostly its information stems from personal opinions. Chillicothe was of great importance to the Ohio and Erie Canal. We all know where Yoctangee Park is, for those who don't it borders directly up to downtown Chillicothe. Before the canal was developed, the Scioto River came right into town. What we see at the park today, is the old river bed, the river was re-directed as a part of flood control later on. This town tried to make use of the uncertain river and desperately tried to keep the channel open in hopes to float goods to the Ohio River. The Scioto River is basically an early and later year river, its summer time usage; well let’s say one might get stuck on the sandbars. Chillicothe had a struggling pork industry and needed to get the animals to Cincinnati where the huge slaughter houses sat. The pigs and hogs went overland by wagon, marching them proved to be futile, they never moved to fast stopped ate everything and were hard to manage. When the canal made its way to town, the answer to the pork industry came parallel with it. From the canal emerged a quicker way to move meat with less a chance of it spoiling using this new hi-speed waterway of 4 MPH. Another un-foreseen plus was “Ice”, the canal provided this by the tons, stemming from this, cold storage building went up. B before the canal had arrived, pools of water on the Scioto were made to cut ice chunks from, but they never met the demands, the canal filled that void. Salt was needed desperately and it come down from the north to preserve the meat, and dozens of smoke houses went up along the canal with slaughter houses as well, this cut Cincinnati out of the picture and was no longer a middle man or the main brokerage anymore. Now Chillicothe made their own arrangements sending pork up and down the canal where it boarded ships and much went overseas. The biggest buyers were in New Orleans. I was told that the great fire of the 1850s was actually a smoke house that set the town ablaze; it was situated directly on the canal. The town once bordered up to the canal within inches, which alone prevented any fire fighting assistance from putting out the blaze. The buildings were pushed back allowing an avenue between the docks and the canal. Chillicothe had many iron shops, gun making and milling operations; Miss Ohio Flour became known worldwide come from there too. They were known for a thriving shoe industry and shipped tons of wheat, oats and barley. During the First World War, Camp Sherman was home to scores of soldiers and during the Revolutionary war, Camp Bull was on Paint Creek housed prisoner. After the war and the English prisoners were released form Commodore Perry's 300 mile walk from Lake Erie after he defeated the English Navy, many men stayed in Chillicothe, rather than returning to England. Chillicothe was also the first who stood in favor of canal abandonment and filled it in ahead of all others. The trains arrived in or about 1852, that marked the end there for the Ohio and Erie Canal. Tracks were laid from Marietta to Chillicothe and from Cincinnati and them criss-crossed the state. By 1860, there wasn't any canal traffic whatsoever moving into town, boats were abandoned where the crews stepped off, one being canal boat the "Duck". The canal became a nuisance and the cause for malaria and other sicknesses. The canal bed was drained, thus brought on sickness. It was refilled for a time and washed all the stagnant water downstream for health reasons, but a storm washed out the dam at the Circleville feeder which stopped the water form up north, it was then filled in, on in or about 1907 and the canal days were gone forever.
2108-Are you able to provide the information that outlines who the builders were which erected the structures on the Ohio and Erie Canal? Was the southern terminus ever used at all at the Ohio River?
2109-2108-I don’t think anyone has the names of the original builders; most of them were land owners none were actually built by a company that specialized in that type of work. Bids were made and the lowest bid was awarded the job. The rock quarries made thousands of the stones blocks to state specifications and stacked them; the builders purchased them and assembled the puzzle. There was some serious thinking involved too. These structures had to work, be level, and be built precise to operate. If the lock chamber wasn’t made to specifications, it was torn out and another contractor finished the work. The chambers sat on heavy wooden frames which were cured in tar and oils to ward off rot. These timbers easily held they huge tonnage from above, the reasoning for these was simply to provide a solid base rather that earth which could wash out. A part that always marveled me was the spillways and the tumble “waterfall” adjacent to the lock which kept the water moving within the canal system, even if every lock was closed the water continued to move. Generally the tumble had ½ to one inch to operate with over the top and had to be precision and level. I do have the name of the builders who done the work the second time around. Please bear in mind this; the second time around the work was only done on half of the original canal system ending at Dresden Junction. I will list them real soon for you. You asked if the lock at the Ohio River was used. That would be lock 55; I would have to say not too much. That lock was opened in the late 1870s and it was a big celebration too. The Canal Commission had just re-acquired the canal and it was in disarray from the serious lack of repairs during its leased out period. During these years lock 54 named the Red bridge Lock was positioned at the confluence of the Scioto at the Ohio Rivers and was un-operational to lack of upkeep. Lock 54 sat on the opposite side of the Scioto River from Portsmouth; a bridge had to be erected in order to carry goods to- and- from the canal. This bridge fell often do to the un-predictable rising of the Ohio River. For the biggest part, Portsmouth was cut off from the canal nearly all the duration the canal was operational. From the opening time of the new terminus and the canals closing down its southern operation, only a handful of boats passed the lock to exchange with river boats. The new lock 55 came much too late, the railways were already established in Portsmouth. Most of the river commerce was done at the Elbow Lock 53 then transported overland to the former makeshift docks along the Ohio River by using River Road. This makeshift dock was tied up and raised and lowered itself to accommodate the rise and fall of the river. The new lock 55 replaced this floating platform by having a stationary well built structure that was able to accommodate the inconsistent river by having multiple loading areas. But as I stated earlier, this lock come along much too late to make any difference, and lock 55 never served the purpose it was intended to do. Lock 55, was built nearer to Alexandria, this placed Portsmouth further away from the benefits the canal ever offered. Portsmouth wasn’t a canal town by any means, it was a river town, an outpost and a trading post central brought to life by the early French explorers and others who come along before the canal existence. Portsmouth ended up simply in a place along the opposite side of the Scioto River, this river was used as a water supply necessary to operate the Ohio and Erie Canal. Portsmouth was actually considered to be the southern terminus and could have easily been tied into the canal simply by digging it on the eastern side of the Scioto River. That contemplation come to an abrupt stop, and a decision was made not to tie it in at all. For some of Portsmouth’s wealthier entrepreneurs and their greed, they alone sealed the deal not to take the canal there, because in their anticipation of the canals arrival, the lands were bought up, and they skyjacked the land values to unbelievable heights.
2110-The Portsmouth snenario is very educating. Be certain the historical director of Scioto County will rebute your claims.
2111--Portsmouth wasn't the end of the line or the bottom of the O & E Canal, it was the beginning and nearly all of the states commerce for a short time passed through Portsmouth!
2112 to 2111-You’re delusional, I can’t believe the bulk of our states commerce somehow passed through Portsmouth. Anything currency having to do with the canal was collected at the toll station at Lock 50s general store. The general store was named C.H. Barbee, this store kept registry of the boats, (few that were coming and going).
2113-I believe that the numbers pertaining to the commerce generated on our canal systems was totally fabricated “to look good”. These numbers are staggering to say the least, ask yourself, how could this be possible? At any given time there weren’t a hundred boats operating on the Ohio and Erie Canal simultaneously, and to add to the equations, maybe eight months out of a year. To bring in the millions claimed is true; the price to haul goods was no less then astronomical. Three and a half cents to move corn and wheat per bushel, ten cents moving flour, only pennies moving people. These numbers don’t add up. To generate this kind of money for the state, all being collected at the tolls, thousands of boats would had to be in service, all at the same time!
2114—Over the course of several years my outlook towards what’s true about our canal systems has been greatly altered. Just minor corrections and sensible facts have launched my own investigations behind my personal fact finding mission. To top this off, even the leading authority had so many inaccuracies in his publication that another rewrite was done to correct itself. How on god’s green earth did the tolls possibly add up into the astronomical numbers that are available? It’s all lies, no way was so much currency made moving freight, people, dogs cats goats mules whatever on our canal systems here in Ohio. If this was merely accurate by even 50% the state would have backed the canal through its entire life and today this waterway would be in use.
2115 to 2114-That was a mouthful, it’s true, if the canal was showing such an enormous profit the state would have stood behind it. Really there was no reasoning for the abandonment or putting it up for lease. Let’s use the state of New York for an example on the subject of canal abandonment, they didn’t. The railroads pushed through just as Ohio but they incorporated them both thus boosting their economy. Did the canal’s here in Ohio ever pay off? I would say probably they didn’t. Even so, the canal still helped make the state advance much sooner than if it wouldn’t have had this waterway thus developed new towns.
I was called on the phone today, and to my surprise was a very angry major player in the Scioto Valley Historical Society who stringently expressed that Portsmouth is being played down on some recent listings on this blog. Their outlook greatly differs from the true facts about Scioto County and especially Portsmouth. According to this individual, Portsmouth was a canal town and from its docks all the freight bound for the Mississippi River and The Gulf had no choice except to be brought through it. I was also informed that the great river steamers entered the canal at the Outlet lock 55 and moored at the basin at Slab Creek, that’s between the Elbow Lock and Union Mills Lock 52. Basically everything that I had ever known on the area was wrong and should have been screened with them before being placed on this or any other sight.
This is my take—(1) Portsmouth wasn’t a canal born town at all, but a river born trading post before it was anything.
(2) The canal never touched Portsmouth limits, but was near. The canal was separated from Portsmouth by a barrier called the Scioto River.
(3) There is no possible way that any steamer passed through the Outlet Lock to more at Union Mills.
(4) The yearly spring floods were so bad they kept the town under water for weeks at a time, the clean-up took just as long.
(5) Because of the flooding, higher ground was sought after for both loading and off-loading and the docks at Union Mills was generally the step of point for canal tonnage and from that point it was taken overland to meet boats along the Ohio River waiting below.
(6) If the Ohio River was too high from flooding, the merchandise was stored and stacked again at the Union Mills area until it could be moved along for river travel.
2116-It’s clear to see that Portsmouth wasn’t actually physically connected with the canal. Does this similar scenario play out elsewhere, a place where either a river or railroad could of or would have been a blockage which hindered the town’s growth?
2117-to -2116 Two places do stand out off the top of my head, Clinton and Zoar. Clinton never really caught on either like its neighboring Canal Fulton. The canal life there was in essence dead by comparison, and why? Canal Fulton had its canal blasting right through the thick of it, and Clinton had a river between them and the canal. Although Clinton had locks, it never developed into the bustling town to its south. Let’s look at today’s places or towns to its north also, them being New Portage then now Barberton and Akron. Barberton had a canal driving straight down the middle, and look at it today in comparison to Clinton. Clinton is still small in size without any manufacturing abilities with hardly a crumb left over from its canal era. Akron, well turned into a huge metropolis, all because of the canal went right through it, without any barriers at all like a river.
Zoar, here’s another example where a big obstacle stood between the canal and them. In reality, Zoar was very very resistant to the canals arrival, basically they, the Society of the Separatist searched out this location to be alone and would rather had the canal to have never touched their boundaries. The Society practiced polygamy which broke up soon after the Ohio and Erie Canal did arrive and the word got out about the doings within the compound and their woman began leaving, running off. Word of multiple wives and the separation of the men and women got out and the law had gotten involved, it was illegal. The woman groups from neighboring towns Bolivar and New Philadelphia staged many protest to the societies activities. This brought on the end to this era and in 1898 it was over. Even after the death of Joseph Baumeler years earlier, the society tried to expand and commercialize there goods but the sometimes angry Tuscarawas River separated them from the canal system. The Society even placed a canal system on their side which led to loading docks with a lock to accommodate a lower level also, a slackwater crossing was behind the dam. Still with all this effort, the town was at the mercy of the river and stemming from it, Zoar never really grew too much on the lines of being a major manufacturing player. Zoar’s hey-days were when they had the contracts to cut and supply all the lumber for the locks and bridges and aqueducts on the Ohio and Erie Canal. Zoar once had the largest and best sawmill capabilities in the eastern part of this country. Zoar’s biggest downfall was simply the unpredictable river and the elders thirst for multiple wives and young girls.
2118 Clinton Ohio has an enormous role in the earliest years of our states growth. Thousands upon thousands of bushels of wheat and tons of sacks of flour were milled here. Let’s not forget that a young James Garfield thought enough of the village to get off the canal boat he worked and visit! He never had forgotten Clinton, I’m sure his stay was pleasant.
2119-Clinton had its day, but it’s been over long before the canal went belly up. At one time, Clinton had the ability to warehouse an enormous amount of grain and was in rivalry with Navarre, Bethlehem and Rochester. Clinton wasn't in a pricing war as Navarre and its close neighbors and managed their own pricing and had their own merchants and stayed clear of the Farmer Merchants Association for as long as they could. Clinton wanting to stay away from the FMA, that decision ended up costing them dearly, they were boycotted and violence erupted between the haulers who and didn’t move grain products from Clinton. The canal was blocked by angry mobs that were set in motion by order of James Duncan of Massillon who set the overall pricing of Wheat, corn and barley in the region. Duncan started the war between Navarre, Rochester and Bethlehem to gain overall control by driving the storage price into the ground, them he come out from the shadows and bought them out. The FMA was brought to life because of the grain wars in Stark County, someone or something had to stop Duncan. Duncan owned all of Massillon’s granaries, was the final word in the Navarre area too, but Clinton fought back, they held their grain during the Civil War until its rivals both north and south exhausted their own grain, but Clinton was growing something else even more in demand than wheat, “oats.” Duncan had his ways, and sat on the board of the FMA, but he had no say in the oat production to his north or Summit County. Duncan’s desperate now; he reluctantly had to buy wheat from an enemy he made, that was Clinton. Duncan had to fulfill his obligation under a contract he made with the Northern Army, thus this ended up costing him drastically. Clinton had the rich fertile farmland that was perfect for oats. Akron bought all their oats for the civil war effort to feed the men and horses alike. After the war, Clinton had a surplus without buyers; Akron’s oat demand was trickling by comparison to the war days. Within five years, 1870 Clinton was a has been leader in farm products and everything folded up, farms defaulted. The railroads killed the granaries who bordered the canal, and there wasn’t enough capital to build new facilities along the tracks. The railways saw this problem and invested heavily in Clinton and re-arraigned the loading capabilities off and away from the canal to meet their demands. Even with this capability Clinton fell to the wayside because the price of grain, corn, barley and oats were at an all time low, the farmer barely broke even, some didn’t. I have this to say about James Garfield, if he had gotten off at Clinton, he got off every chance he could, anywhere, so quit wearing that scenario out Please!
2120-Today was really the first nice day of the 2013 spring season, so I took advantage and set out on foot. My interest today lies in Tuscarawas County in a well known and gone over area, the Zoar Valley. This area is a hot spot for the inquisitive explorers who are digging around its past trying to figure out its maze. There are many un-answered questions in this region of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Many of the answers have been destroyed when the adjacent road and railways were placed in, so much fill was needed to raise the road above the Tuscarawas River. But some evidence lurks about, thus giving an idea of the workings of the drydock and the boat building once so prominent down in there. Towpath is the road, its former was Canal Road, Towpath offers a good elevated vantage point that clearly was placed over the drydock and building area of yesteryear, but the remnants of these locations are visibly strong.
2121 to 2119 man that's funny! That's all Clinton can really say for themselves, "James Garfeild got off the boat right here in good old Clinton" Man I'll bet he jumped right back on after looking around too!!!
2122- The previous posting wasn’t too nice. I will say that the James Garfield thing is way too overplayed, but that’s all they have. He was born in November of 1831, and at the age of 17 was supposedly a steersman on a canal boat which was in the year 1848, in 1849 he enrolled in the seminary at 18 years old. He was born on the stretch between locks 23 and 24 in Orange Township. His father was a contractor and overseen the digging on the stretch of the canal through their property and died a year after its opening. Garfield was brought up on the canal, with boats passing each and every day right by their home. By proximity alone he made friends with all the boat crews passing through. My theory is that he was invited to go along occasionally and done just that and never really had any interest in working on the canal, his mind was elsewhere, schooling and education is what drove him. I talked with some experts about Garfield, and they have the same conclusion, he was probably a passenger. But again, proximity places him there and the timing fits. Garfield also got off at Akron and probably Portsmouth as well as every stop along the line. If he was employed, he did all the duties, plus the undesirables too.
2123-I posted back in 2010 in posting 1929 concerning a picture of a real canal dredge, can I get a reply? Are there any pictures of a real working Ohio and Erie Canal Dredge at work?
.2124- The only picture that I’ve seen of a dredge at work on the Ohio and Erie Canal is in Massillon Ohio. On the corner of Walnut St and 1st street SW is a company named MCA or RCA Rubber, the picture hangs in their office.
2125-The new project was known as the Muskingum River Improvement. Construction began in 1836 and was completed in 1841. Improvements consisted of a system of eleven locks and dams that made the Muskingum River navigable from Marietta to a short feeder canal just south of Dresden, Ohio, that connected to the Ohio and Erie Canal. Residents of southeastern Ohio were pleased as the river system now encouraged economic opportunity in the region. The Muskingum River had hand-operated locks that were designed so that a boat could pass through each lock in about fifteen minutes. This script you just read is whats published about the the region, where was the feeder is my question to you Canalwayman.
2126-The posting prior to this one has some very interesting things to talk about, mostly very inaccurate. The entire project nearly broke Ohio’s bank, so much money was being poured in that direction the state nearly went bankrupt. Just the same as any other project this state stood behind there was a dark side with greed as the motivation, plagued with scandal and profiteering coming from the top. Contractors who had hardly any dam building experience were paid huge sums of money, many of with got filthy rich beyond belief. In the end handed the state some seriously poor construction that obviously didn’t hold up to well. Every dam and lock was reconstructed eventually, left in despair from the lack of maintenance, thus mimicking the same scenario the Ohio and Erie Canal experienced because the railways arrived. In about the late 1880s traffic on the river had ended from huge loses revenues with trains now operating that surely meant no repairs were done. No money to operate quickly took its toll and the dams and locks crumbled and lockage was minimal and without dams to hold the river, its summer depth was merely inches deep. Passage from Marietta to Dresden was only a memory. The turn of the 20th century the state found new revenue and began repairing this waterway, its shorter distance now Zanesville to Marietta. The connection point at Dresden Junction never materialized into much, thus left Dresden out of the picture all together.
This questionable feeder the previous posting had asked about wasn’t at all south of Dresden, It was in the area above Dresden and slightly eastward. The feeder canal connection was on the great bend on the Muskingum River above, not below Dresden and it tied into the canal above Trinway. If you were looking for this connection point today, I would look no further then Route 16 where it meets Raiders Road, its other end is now a sand pit on the river.
2127- by what means and measuring instruments were used to make an accurate assessment of the mileage on the O & E Canal why not use nautical miles.?
2128- The canal was measured in miles simply because it was measured on dry land before the canal was built and any water flowed. Using nautical mileage on a river or a canal doesn’t make too much sense, why as follows. A nautical mile is broken down into 60 units each representing a mile, the distance of 60 is between latitudes. Longitudes close in as they get closer to the poles, so they are not reliable. These measurements apply to aviation and navigational movements usually moving on an un-interrupted course, not a curvy canal or river. If the canal was measured in nautical miles it would be somewhere between 260 and 270 miles give or take. The instruments used to measure were quite simple. The English measuring system applied then but was different in today’s ways of doing things, strange names apply we hadn’t ever encountered but never the less accurate as heck. Below is a prime example of how this might have been done: A chain is a unit of length. It measures 66 feet, or 22 yards, or 100 links,[1] or 4 rods (20.1168 m). There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several centuries in Britain and in some other countries influenced by British practice. I was led to believe that every 22 yards advanced another bead or notch on a simple rope from the person walking this route, and at the end of the day, added them up, eventually coming up with the correct mileage on the section they were given. Many different areas were done by several individuals in several designated area simultaneously. They knew where to begin and where to stop, and not to overrun another’s measured area. When they had completed this measurement, I was told they had to return retracing their steps rechecking it again.
2129- Canalwayman -do you know the name of the first known vessel to operate on the Ohio and Erie Canal?
2130- Everyone knows the name of the first canal boat to make passage was from Akron to Cleveland on Independence Day 1827. The State-Of –Ohio made the first fully documented voyage. One of the two other boats was the Allen Trimble waiting in a basin in Boston near Lower Boston Wallace lock 33, which made a twenty mile voyage on July 4th. Moored out of the summer’s rays it waited for the State-Of –Ohio to meet them and then onward to Cleveland to meet the Pioneer at the basin at Merwin St, between locks 43 & 44. These boats were decked out and carried the dignitaries commemorating the opening of the first completed section of the Ohio and Erie Canal. In Cleveland it was a great celebration that lasted for days.
But on June 27, 1827 Alexander and his brother Edward Wheeler completed the State – Of –Ohio and made a premature maiden voyage to Cleveland and back to assure the boat was sound and the canals mechanical devices worked satisfactory. All three of these boats were built in Akron and from there, maid their voyages way ahead of the officials ever stepping a foot onboard.
2131-Were all of Ohio's feeder canals privately funded?
2132-Where did ohioan's learn how to build these canal boats?
2133-Oh, they eventually learned how to build the finest boats right here in Ohio. But, they were taught how, the experience come from the builders of New York’s Erie Canal. Many of Ohio’s boats were towed across Lake Erie, built in New York.
2134-If it was a feeder canal that we're speaking of that supplied water for the Ohio and Erie Canal, the state picked up the tab. If it were a connecting canal like the Walhonding or the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal and even the Sandy and Beaver, the state helped out some, for instanced the state did pick up a third of the bill for the P & O Canal. A canal system which the state had no hand in was from Canton and it never materialized. The Nimishillen Sandy and Beaver Navigational Canal was supposed to connect Canton to the Sandy and beaver Canal just east of Bolivar, then with the Ohio and Erie Canal nearby. This plan was a devious scheme from its conception so Canton did not lose its county seat to Massillon.
2135-2122- Its well known documentation that James Garfield worked the canal for many years. your description makes it sound as if he stepped off as quick as he stepped on!
2136-I attended a speech given in Zoar recently which describes Joseph Bimiler quite differently than the monster this site makes him out to be.
2137 to 2136
I took a tour of historic Zoar several years ago. The tour guide made Joseph Bimiler sound like a monster also.
Zoar canalwayman said...
2138- 2136-Today, incest is alive and well in the Amish community. It’s not to un-common for some 12 year old girl giving birth, the father to be is, already her father. The Amish, Quakers and so many off-shoots with the same religious beliefs as your beloved Joseph Baumeler stood by these beliefs, and if he was living today would more than likely try to practice them. Baumeler, gone for ages, dead 175 years is probably cooking pretty well where he’s spending eternity. Rape, goes un-noticed or is kept quiet within the Amish and related religious belief circles. Everything is hush-hush and covered up well, well enough to where an Amish wife would be shunned away to expose this event. Shunned from her community, friends, cut off from free speech socially and totally un-acknowledged. Her very existence would be looked past as if she was invisible, that’s if she testified against her husband for engaging in sex with his own offspring.
The Society of the Separatist lived by these beliefs. They were cast out of Europe for these practices, and by coming to this land he began to search out the land of Zoar, a place where he could get away with such things. A strong believer in the Old Testament, he twisted the story of the biblical figure Lott, who fled Sodom and Gomorrah in search of this land. Lott engaged with his own daughters impregnating them and the lord turned his head as the bible would want us to believe. The Old Testament also condones multiple wives which worked well for him and beliefs. Baumeler’s activity began deteriorating when the Ohio and Erie Canal arrived at his front steps with its proposal to go right through his property, he strongly rejected the idea, and then the reality of imminent domain became real. Baumelers biggest fear wasn’t the canal, but the men, the men who would infiltrate, who would now be in the proximity of his women. To keep the outsiders away, Baumeler dug the section through his land hoping to avoid any mingling with outsiders. Soon enough the women began leaving and the tight grip of the Separatist was loosening, no woman left there, the workers within followed. Stories filtered out about slavery and polygamy and cruelty within the compound. The law got involved and a meeting was held, and its substance was this, that anyone there could pick up and leave, many done so. The whole foundation was shaken when its leaders were subject to laws other than their own. Local woman marched against the compound and wanted the woman free from this life of slavery. Before all these things began happening, Baumeler, used sex to his advantage, not only the elders had their choice of the young tenderloins, they fathered dozens of children with multiple wives. They kept the young men working hard for years, they had to become worthy to be granted a wife, and a wife was who they, the elders, decided who she would be. If you done well approaching 40, and your time were near for a wife, if you worked hard, maybe you were given a half pretty girl. The lesser stature one held would probably get you a nice big fat wife, someone to breed children. The nicely built pretty ones were already spoken for by the elders or immediate family members. The ordinary men, workers had no say or choice in the picking. The men usually were 25 to 30 years older than their wives.
“Just so you know”, I didn’t grab a bunch of words here from thin air, I got around plenty and gave speeches in countless communities, Zoar too .There are many descendants still around today with ties to Joseph Baumeler and the Society of the Separatist, these stories are from them.
2139—2138 / Bimiler came to this country to establish himself as a business man and set up quite the milling operation too.
2140-2139 -there’s no doubt that he had himself quite the milling operation. Very gifted in that line of work, obviously a trade this was passed down through the years back home. Never the less, he also had the gift to control people’s minds. A gift makes it sound Ok, let’s say he developed a power through stern beliefs and actions towards others which made people fear him. His powers were so strong the average follower lost the ability to think, and in an (exaggerated form) couldn’t tie their shoes without him telling them how too. To these people, he was the messiah, and made himself out to be as well. Baumeler had his followers so mind bent in his beliefs they would comply without hesitation to any whim, need or deed. His milling operation wasn’t placed there for the general public’s needs or demands; it was built on the rapids of the Tuscarawas River to fill his needs by building a Kingdom in his newly found land of Zoar. As I stated before, Baumeler thought this place tucked away deep in the woods was above approach from the outside world and influence. In his mind, they would stay tucked away from sight for an eternity. He purchased the land along both sides of the river and we can still see the dam which he spanned the river today. Somewhere in all this construction, he also though that he controlled the river, soon found out that the state had the control of the water, not him. This revelation was the second hard blow he dealt with, the first was the canal was coming through no-matter-what. The state took control of the dam, the water that was needed to operate the canal come first before any of his waterwheel could turn. In the dry seasons when the water was low, Baumelers operation stood still. Another thing which was hard for him to swallow, he had to buy the water just like anyone else who milled using state water, that infuriated him.
2141-I was visiting lock 4 in Canal Fulton and measured the distance between the quinlin post at 84 feet, so that’s the maximum length of a canal boat can be to fit inside the chamber?
2142-The lock chamber we all are aware of has an upper and lower set of doors (Whalen Gates). The locks lower side no matter which direction the boat faces, the doors point towards the boat. The upper doors always point away from the craft, or both doors always point upstream. The reasoning is quite simple; the weight of the water keeps them pressed on the miter seal. With all that explained should give an example of the longest a boat could be and having the chambers mechanisms working properly. If the boat took on the length between both door post, only the upper side would open. The longest a boat could be would be maybe 70 feet. Why? Well, the doors are 8 feet in length, and on the lower side they swing inwards towards the boat to open. On the high side the boat has to clear the dam when it moves up or down within the chamber. Most of the dams are built with a natural curve to match the boats shape. Lock 4 has beam that’s been placed in at the high side just inches below the dam, I suspect that it’s an additional bumper so the boat didn’t land against the sharp edge of the dam. I also suspect the lock was hardly used after its been rebuilt and the block stones were removed
2143-What brought on the need to replace the blockstones and make the locks of concrete instead? Those stones will outlast cement for millions of years.
2144-to answer 2143-The original blocks which made up the canal locks and structures will endure the test of time. At the time of construction, 1825, that’s the best idea for building available. If we were in a region of the country where it’s not hit hard yearly by a heavy freeze, the chambers would probably still be standing. Why? Simple, the lower section of the canal lock where the water lays swells with the onset of frigid temperatures. This swelling widens the lower blocks and causes the tops to topple inward over time. The blocks although placed well and roughly smooth still with cracks between then had the tendency for the ice to penetrate between them. This penetration locked the ice in place hindered the ice formation from sliding neither up nor down as a smooth concrete wall offers, thus expanding upward too where block walls could not.. The smooth walls without seems between the block stones had also sealed the water from getting in behind pushing in. The block walls in subzero temperatures with water behind them had the tendency to push them inward as well. So in other words the blocks were constantly moving.
2145 to 2144 Why didn't the builders place some type of locking pins to ward off the movement?
2146—Hey, did you ever come across a cave supposedly between Massillon and Canal Fulton loaded with arrow heads.
2147 to -2146 A long time ago at a speech in Massillon an elderly man who was 96 years old was there alongside his son listening. They waited until the hall cleared and told me so many things about the canal, he lived near Crystal Springs. As the story goes, back in the 1700s the Delaware Indians lived near where Traphagen Rd meets Erie St. There was a cave right in there and thousands of layers of slate used for arrow heads line this high ridge. The cave imploded while he was still young, sealed forever. Of course I went looking for this sight and there it was, about 150 yards south of Traphagen Rd, on the eastern side of the canal. The place is loaded with layers of sharp slate and one can make out where the opening was. Who would think that so close to Massillon and Canal Fulton was a tribe of Delaware Indians? But it’s no secret that, this given place was once the boundary to the United States, the Tuscarawas River was the dividing point. I say the story is good and very valid.
I was pleased to see that this blog had come back to life has a vibrant exchange of opinions. Have to agree with Canalwayman in regard to the Portsmouth outlet . By all accounts the southern third of the Ohio & Erie had little more than local traffic from about 1880 on. Toll receipts and water rental receiptswould support that position.--W.A.Seed
This blog is quite interesting, quite educational to say the most. In posting of number 2142, I stringently disagree with the finding you placed or emphasized upon that a canal boat in length was a merely 70 feet. Living in northern Ohio gives the opportunity to accumulate my research too compare. In doing so, all of our existing locks from Akron going down to the Cuyahoga at Cleveland differ than your findings, they are between 84 and 85 feet between the Quinlin post the Whaler doors connected too. In saying that, the boats could be considerably longer than you suggested.
2150 the two postings above are 2149 and 2148.
Let’s go with you measurements in posting 2149, they are dead on if we’re talking about lock 4 between Massillon and Canal Fulton. Not all locks are created equal or exact. One thing for sure, the generally got the width correct. Length can vary up to a foot. Let’s see just how much boat will actually fit this lock mentioned. We have 84 feet and change between the Whaler post, and the doors do pitch upstream with an angle of five feet. Now the lower side had a minus of 5 feet, thus reduces the inner chamber to 79 feet. But wait, we just gained five feet on the inside pitch of the upper doors. Does that give us back the 84 feet? Not hardly, and why? Because there’s a shelf, let’s call it the upper dam that protrudes back into the chamber actually further than the door post, maybe by a foot. All this said, we have a chamber of 78 feet to operate the boat, be it lifting or lowering. I believe a boat of 80 plus feet would fit as long as the chamber didn’t empty, if so, “what a nose dive with its aft stuck on the shelf”. But we’re all forgetting and are overlooking an obvious situation, and that’s the rudder which hangs back five additional feet. But any good boatman knows the first thing to do when docked within a lock, and that’s to push the tiller bar, steer bar, all the way starboard or portside to make clearance, if not something will be snapped off. But here’s a real interesting fact, or facts. In Canal Fulton we have a replica canal boat, the Saint Helena II and also an operational boat, the Helena III. The II is 64 feet 4 inches, the III measures out about 59 feet both with a protruding rudder of maybe 5 feet. There may have been some longer boats, but not by much.
2151 regards to 2150
Wow! That’s really breaking the subject matter down to its finest points. I guess knowing the mechanics of the locking process would shed a better light rather than a ruler or tape measure. I can hardly fathom the amount of work involved or the boat building process of the day. At lock 30 on the northern slope there's a lot of unexplained channels and structures, can you shed some light?
2152 Peninsula housed a rather large boat building and repair drydocks. The remnants we see today are whats left at the Lock 30 location of this. There once sat a drydock fed by the canal and its drain race to the river still visible. Also a water wheel of great size turned and the gearing platform stands yet. A sawmill and a boiler house once stood. What little is left wasn't swept away in 1913. This particular boat yard closed before the Civil War.
2153-I would say that lock 4 in Stark County leans towards Canal Fulton than Massillon in proximity.Did or was a water channel running below the locktenders quarters, it would appear so. I have a trivia qustion about that particular lock. What makes that lock differ from thee others?
2154 to 2153
It would appear as if a race of some sort ran below the lock tenders quarter at lock 4 of Stark County, namely the Grist Mill of Canal Fulton. In proximity, yes, this location is merely a mile from town and several miles from Massillon to its south. Did water run below? No. That was a storage area probably where the tools were kept to maintain the lock and to groom around the area. Although on the sides of the ramp leading down to this area the stone work is mortared in well to prevent corrosion, so to think water passed through is logical. To answer the trivia question is simple but at the same time to answer it correctly is to answer in incorrectly too. What makes this lock different from the other northern Ohio locks is this, the approach on the high side hasn’t the spread wings as I would call them which job was to guide the boat it. Not all Northern locks had them, or at least they came up missing when the system was rehabilitated back in 1907ish. All locks are not built that way, many southern locks are square on both ends.
2155-Hi Jeff its been quite some time now, where have you been? If you're still doing this then reply to this . What's the biggest wrongly placed historical marker mistake in Canal Fulton?
2156 to 2155 They're just ignorant down there in Canal Fultons historical department I told them long ago that the sign is incorrect. In 1814 there was no canal to speak of. Here's a run down on Canal Fulton History as follows:The Village of Milan, named after Milan, Italy, was the first settlement west of the Tuscarawas River in Stark County. The Village, located on the present site of Canal Fulton, was platted and recorded in Canton, Ohio on March 23, 1814. Seventy-nine lots were offered for sale at public auction. Market Street was the principal thoroughfare with cross streets named First to Fourth.
Several years after this, plans for the construction of a canal connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River were prepared, and ground was broken near present day Newark on July 4, 1825. The canal route lay through Stark County and, as a result, its construction produced twenty-five new villages in the County from 1826-1836.
The first of these villages founded was Fulton. It was located on the east side of the Tuscarawas River opposite Milan. Two prominent Canton residents, James Lathrop and William Christmas, laid out the Village on May 16, 1826. The plat contained eighty-seven lots compared to the seventy-nine in Milan. Streets in Fulton paralleled the canal, while those in Milan were oriented to the north-south compass points. Two bridges connected the two villages.
In 1830, when the post office was established in Fulton, the community included three warehouses, two taverns, two stores, seven dwelling houses and forty inhabitants. In 1832, the name “Canal” was prefixed to Fulton as it seemed to convey a more dynamic quality. Several years later, the Village was incorporated and, in 1853, Canal Fulton, West Fulton and Milan merged to form one community.
Hi Jeff, Im one of the idiots whos made historical decisions, one of them what's placed on signs. Needless to say, that sign that states Canal Fulton since 1814 is incorrect. Not everyone is a genious like your high and almighty self!!
2157 There's no high and mighty here, was the United States in existance before its discovery? This is the response too the paragraph above!!
Hi Jeff, haven't or here from you too much, whats up?
2158-- Do you think that the southern end of the Ohio and Erie Canal was more prone to use the New Orleans markets by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers than its upper counterpart using Lake Erie?
2159-I can’t even begin to fathom the undertaking completed by James Geddes at the 1822 appointment given by Ohio’s Governor Brown to blaze a waterway for the Ohio and Erie canal. (WOW)
2160 to 2159 : James Geddes, was an old hat at figuring out the path of the Ohio and Erie Canal. His experience was developed in New York and refined. He was certainly the only man for the job as we know, but Mother Nature did his work way ahead of his arrival. Water flows down hill and Ohio had plenty of it, and its rivers and streams would nearly connect the entire way from Cleveland to the Ohio River adjacent to the canal. Two places where this connection wasn’t, was the land portage between the Tuscarawas River and the Cuyahoga and further south below Buckeye Reservoir where Walnut Creek was the nearest supply to the Scioto River leaving the Licking River behind. But Geddes undertaking wasn’t so difficult, just follow the rivers, anyone could have pulled it off with limited knowledge. Many routes were chosen for the canal, but the most lucrative route from Cleveland was taken, many payoffs were involved I’m sure!!!. The states intensions were to go as far as Dresden Junction and be done with it. But! In order to push this canal through legislature, many votes within the house were needed, needed to sway the decision for having a canal, and by not running the canal through these districts as earlier promised would make many, many enemies. James Geddes was paid an astronomical wage for the times to survey Ohio’s waterways. Do the math, I’ll bet $6000 in 1822 is worth at least a $130,000 or better today. Man I’d crawl on my bare behind through thicket today for those wages from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.
2161 to previous posting, I’d like to see that, although the walk was probably treacherous with the unknown wilderness, there were also wild Indians to deal with. But somehow and in reality, I can’t see them walking these distances at all when a good boat or canoe was at hand. The money which was given for this mapping of the rivers was entirely over the top for its time. These men weren’t entirely only blazing a canal route, but, were actually mapping our rivers to see if it was probable and possible to support a canal. There were also many engineers at hand who came west from New York’s Canal system as well who made such decisions, for instance, where to place dams, reservoirs etc, who’s names we don’t know, we’ll never be able to pay credit to them because they’re unknown except for Alfred Kelley its commissioner..
2162 answering to 2158:
In my thoughts, the southern end of the Ohio and Erie Canal below Newark, never grasped the glory of what the Ohio and Erie Canal was suppose to be intended for. Although the water flowed through as intended, it never really caught on economically. Oh they had their businesses in their major towns, Chillicothe being the larger. Portsmouth just never materialized, but in reality was never expected to either ,Marietta was the preferred terminus, Although Portsmouth was strategically located on the Ohio River, it would seem as if it would have been made into a thriving metropolis as the southern end of the great canal, why not? Why not, is because the more lucrative markets were north, stemming from that, and goods went up the canal. Another thing that had an impact on Portsmouth was the shady land deals which involved buying up all the land on the proposed canals path. Alfred Kelly could see through this scandal and just like New Philadelphia decided not to connect. I’m not saying that everything moved north, but a lot did, so to gain a profit, most farm goods and pork from Chillicothe shipped at Lake Erie, pork also went south too. Chillicothe was a big importer of salt, salt was to cure the pork, and smoke houses were everywhere. Once talking with a Ross County Historian, he told me that the smoke was so dense and overwhelming you’d choke and gasp for air and the discards from the slaughter houses were thrown into the canal and the Scioto River and the stench was horrible.. Dumping into the canal was an ongoing issue, thus caused sickness like cholera. We must remember that the Muskingum River was groomed from Dresden Junction to Marietta to deliver goods using a speedy reliable method and also Dresden was to once be the southern end of the canal. With the Muskingum operational before the canals arrival, was the deciding factor to connect at Dresden. The canals southern end life span was shorter than the north’s and Portsmouth built its Lock 55 way, way, too late to be of any use.
2163: I was recently asked about what I knew of the Lateral Canal which New Philadelphia acquired after the opening of the main body of the Ohio and Erie Canal. I wish to say that my information may change here and there from its original beliefs years prior. As I’ve stated many years ago, New Philadelphia geographically was unable to be reached by the Ohio and Erie Canal entering its mainstream business district. New Philadelphia was positions much higher and also a good distance from the canal. From Canal Dover, the river drops better than 20 feet by the time it makes the first bend past New Philly where Stony Creek enters. This drop placed the Tuscarawas River substantially much lower than the canal. Bear in mind, that in Dover upstream where Sugar Creek connected to the Tuscarawas River at Blake’s Mill, only a couple of feet separated the depth of the Tuscarawas River and Sugar Creek, only because a dam set a new depth on Sugar Creek, but the Sugar Creek level was the same as the canals slackwater pool crossing and it was adjustable. The Tuscarawas River had a series of rapids on this stretch leaving Canal Dover that dropped it below the altitude of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The canal was high above and to west then east of the river by nearly 30 feet. Only about four miles separated the distance from the Jones Lock 12 and the Lock 13 in Lockport on the far side, south side of the river away from New Philadelphia, with only a “Ferry” making the connection early on and a toll bridge came along later. On parts of this stretch just mentioned, the water of the river was within mere inches mimicking the canals depth only a stone’s throw away, during heavy rains they joined together as one. The last mile below Sugar Creek was a treacherous white water river with many rapids.
The Ohio and Erie Canal Commission was well aware that the canals hook-up with New Philly wasn’t feasible nor could directly tie into this town. New Philly lobbied the commission with great and generous contributions, or bribery don’t matter, they took it while the towns people anxiously waiting in anticipation of its arrival. Needless to say, New Philadelphia spent lots of money and got nothing. Dover, much luckier being geographically settled on the banks of the river, technically really had no locks, and the Jones lock was out of town to the north. But! Dover, Canal Dover had dockage, in abundance, on both sides of the river and the canal was lined with many enterprises and a few taverns.
In or about 1835, funds were acquired from sales of bonds within New Philadelphia, enough to bring the waterway through its lower southern end, which developed Bluebell Island, now Bluebell Street is a reminder of a canal once there. A dam was built blocking the Tuscarawas River, now portions still remain behind the Big Lots store on Bluebell Street its name was better the Baker Dam, originally named the Deardorf Dam after its builder and financier. This dam raised the water about 20 feet and a channel was dug that ended up miles away to the east directly behind the power company in town today. To gain access, the boats exited the canal before Sugar Creek in sight of the Toll Collectors building and floated down stream and entered a lock on the laterals western end, not a lift lock, but a gated lock, capable of keeping the river out. This opening can be located being at the northern end of the Big Lots Plaza there now and is marked by a fire hydrant. From the hydrant look or gaze directly across the river, there is the weir that controlled the rivers depth. It’s my belief that the boats may had left the confines of the Lateral and re-entered the Ohio and Erie by floating the mild and still slackwater of the Tuscarawas River all the way to the state dam at the Trenton Feeder. More than likely, they backtracked to Canal Dover and re-entered. It is and was entirely feasible to enter at the state dame because the feeder has exactly the same measurements as the main body of the Ohio and Erie Canal with a Lock.
2164- Some of the best examples we still have of our Ohio and Erie Canal that really display a nicely dug ditch can be found on the Trenton Feeder. One would have to walk this to see the amount of work involved and bear in mind that it’s still untouched by any road expansion. In some parts it’s nearly perfect. To find this area, it’s located at the bottom of River Bottoms Rd off SR 416 in Tuscarawas County. Enjoy it.
2165 to 2163: I was recently asked about Blake’s Mill as most of us knew of sitting at lock 13 in Lockport. Well I guess that could be confusing when I mention this place on Sugar Creek instead. The first of the two Blake’s Mills was at the Sugar Creek crossing. Long before the canals arrival, Sherriff Blake milled where the remains are still visible today. Christian Dearforf owned the property and all was well with ample water for Blake’s milling needs. When the canal arrived, Deardorf sold water off Sugar Creek to the state to keep the canal full. Well, when the water was low, Blake’s water wheels stopped. In frustration Blake moved across the river to Lockport. Deardorf’s , Sugar Creek water was needed for the nearly 10 mile stretch where the Trenton Feeders re-supplies the canal again.
2166; I was recently asked about the location of the dam and feeder which supplied the canals water at Dresden Junction. The actual area where the feeder met the canal was in Trinway. To locate where this was can be and is easily found by getting off of SR.36 and turning onto Raiders Road, places you right there at the first bend. That was the canal connection; the intake was easterly on the Muskingum River now buried below a sand pit.
2167: I have hundreds of questions posted on my Email which need answered. I will begin this and get caught up. A question arrived from a Coshocton resident who neither has little history of his town, nor is ever has been taught in school about its past. There’s way too much to say on this history lesson so I’ll answer his concern. (Question)- Was it Coshocton or Roscoe Village picked to be the Muskingum River connection before the canals arrival? (Answer) The town and village are surely separated by the three rivers of the Tuscarawas, Walhonding and the Muskingum. These were actual barriers and the entire reason why Coshocton laid east of the canal. Roscoe Village was more of a canal born town and made famous by Capt Pearl Nye and his music. Although, it offered acres of open water which moored many boats, some of these boats are still there, resting forever on its bottom. Like Akron, Roscoe Village was a collection place for the unwanted, many of the workers settled in there after the canal was completed. The crime wave and the saloon life were staggering with often having bodies floating down its rivers and canals. Like Circleville, Roscoe Village was loaded with prostitution and drunken rowdiness and murder. On that last sentence alone will tell you that Coshocton was real happy about being off and away from Roscoe Village. Several toll bridges separated the two and if you were IRISH, the chance of getting into to Coshocton was very minimal. Shop windows had signs warning the Irish to stay away. On another note, Coshocton was once supposed to be a navigational connection on the Muskingum River to Marietta. Some of the dockage can still today be found where a great cut out in the river was hand dug for the boats to moor, but strangely enough the docks were on the opposite side facing Roscoe. A great wall still spans from the river yet today which outlines some of the dockage, this can be found on SR16 a half a mile from Roscoe towards Adams Mill.
Glad to see you're back. Please clear up this miconception and that is that a boat can travel the Tuscarawas River from Akron and never be pulled to the Ohio River!
2168: To the previous posting, Man listen, I’ve been over this a hundred times, a boat cannot go the distance from Lake Erie at Cleveland to Portsmouth on the Ohio using connecting rivers. To clear it up even better, even if so the boat would have to be pulled numerous times because of Dams.
Long ago you mentioned about a standing aqueduct of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal in the Akron area, can this be easily found? In the same concern, what's left of the P&O Canal in Summit County?
2169-answering or correcting my own 2168:The above question pertains to the inquiry above and before number 2168 about traveling the Tuscarawas River. My answer in 2168 is right and wrong.In today's time, not a boat of any size wouldn't be able to make a voyage down the Tuscarawas River without being pulled because of dams and obstacles, even as small as a canoe.But this entire blog is really designed around canal time, what went on then.During the canal era, even then a dam was in place on the Tusc just to the south of Snyder in the New Portage area, now Barberton, this dam ran a mill.Just a bit further at Clinton Ohio, the Tusc actually crossed the canal just below lock 3, and north of the guard lock.In Coshocton County between locks 24 and 25 an area known today as Unusual Junction on SR 36, was a mill set up on the river just west of this area, structures still exist. So the right answer would be this, there was a time before the white man arrived , before any technology assisted him that lets say anyone Indian or explorer could drop in a canoe and go the distance using the Tuscarawas River, its real name was once the Muskingum all the way into Summit County.
2170-I was asked my opinion about river usage being a link between canal locks. Yes, there were areas on several of our canals which depended on an adjacent river being its mode of travel.We don't have to dive deep into the scenario of the Blackhand Gorge, but let that be a perfect example of such doings.On the northern slope of the Licking Staircase at Outlet Lock 15, the boats either entered or exited the Licking River. Miles to its east was a guard lock which had the same purpose as Lock 15.It's my belief that the Tuscarawas River was also used as a link between the Lateral Canal of New Philadelphia and the opening of the Trenton Feeder at the state dam.
2171-I have a burning question, first of all, where have you been? this sight has went dead. My question is this. Was the Trenton Feeder a navigational canal, if so can it be verified.
2172: About the Trenton Feeder canal it was quite navigational, whether it was or not , who knows. Its measurements mimic the same as our Ohio and Erie Canal. I have my own synopsis of the whole ordeal, and of course it’s being a connection with the Lateral Canal from New Philadelphia for one . I have further investigations in that area which will be concluded this coming summer.
2173-Do you think Uhrichsville and its milling capabilities was ever a major player in its day and used often enough to make a commercial difference in its connection to the Ohio and Erie Canal?
2174-Uhrichsville really hadn’t hardly any impact whatsoever on the state’s growth and very little on the Ohio and Erie Canal. It was worth more on paper than actually in real life. There was a time when it was canal frenzy and to just boast about being connected made your town into something. Uhrich’s Mill had more than enough to do with its local farming needs and wasn’t really able to supply much in the line of wheat, barley, corn or any other grown goods. Uhrichsville was neither a drop off point for farm goods to be transported to the main body of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The boats were reluctant to leave the confines of a dependable canal or feeder to risk loosing them crossing the Tuscarawas River in its currents or lack of water. Canal boats were made to be used in the stillness of smooth water environments. The area surrounding where the intended crossing where has fast moving water, but, and I hate to give away unsolved information, but there was a couple of dams back in there too. These dams created a slackwater situation which could enable a smooth transition into Still Water Creek. Farm goods weren’t really what that area had to offer at all, but it was clay, known more for clay and had an abundance of it. There again, even if the boats made it that far, they were stopped at Uhrichs Mill, that was the end of the line on Still Water Creek blocked by a sizeable dam. The clay empire there had it’s hey day and beginnings during the development of the canal and it went overland reaching its destinations. The clay was the final topcoat lining the canal bed to assure it to be water tight. Canal boats refused to haul clay because of its adhesive nature and hard to work with. In my opinion, Uhrichsville had little growth and lackluster the other towns had during the canal days.
2175 in response to 2174. The above posting seems quite contradictory to what you said about the boats run in the stillness of open water. Somewhere you’ve made the claim that the canal boats exited the Lateral Canal of New Philly and made their way into the Trenton Feeder, isn’t that sort of dangerous to place a mule driven boat into a river with unpredictable currents.
2176-to 2175-Theres places you’d want to stay away from being a canal boat owner. You have to remember that these boats were expensive and costly to maintain. Let’s say your boat went aground in the wilderness of the Uhrichsville connection and it’s fully loaded with 20 tons of goods, the boat weighing equal to that is mud larked. Who’s going to pull you out of this mess, no one, and it’ll be a lost load or more. I guess what I’m saying is these boats are designed for still water conditions only and to remove them from that environment was a decision probably frowned upon. In all actuality they did navigate rivers and streams’; sometimes just crossing them at a guard lock was doing just that. Its well know knowledge the boats used the Licking River thru the Blackhand Gorge, so we know it’s feasible. In that section of the river was an adjacent towpath, barely distinguishable today but there in one place a giant wall was built with a platform used as a towpath. Each boat was equipped with guide poles which helped each and every time they docked or in-or-out of a lock. These same poles were used while navigating the stillness of open water we know as a slackwater crossing. Any boat captain in his right mind would never set his boat adrift in a hi-water conditions or fast moving waters. They did use rivers for travel, only when an obstacle blocked the use of a towpath, basically where a towpath could not be incorporated. The area of the Tuscarawas River from New Philly to the state dam was a section covering miles of still water. Its stillness backed up so much water and made the passage possible to re-enter the Ohio and Erie Canal at the Trenton Dam. The dam in place was the reason for barely any movement in the large pool it created. The same scenario was carried out in the Blackhand Gorge.
2177-Posting 1890:Wow! its hard to believe but all the Oxbow and Signal Tree stuff is actually make believe.Do you know that I researched these matters and cant get a straight answer, who's in charge of these things?
2178-I have to tell you that a lot of people dislike me for bashing others. Well sometimes that’s the way it is. On the subject of the Signal Tree in Akron Ohio, that whole thing is make believe, made up! Its almost hard to believe what some who have the authority can get away with. Talk to the idiots at the historical dept at the University of Akron and ask for proof!
2179-I have researched the signal tree and I stand by you by and you're beliefs saying its totally fictional.
2180-I live in Cuyahoga Falls and have been to the Signal Tree here and there. Its information really doesn’t claim the tree was used at all, but similar trees were used to guide the way. I also an amateur historian hold the beliefs that our historical advisers and the complete referendum need new employment. I’m a bit stumped about Peck Roads existence and why this side cut road come to be. That would fall on you Canalwayman, can you answer this question.
2181 answering 2180. Let’s go way on back into time to answer this question. Getting to and from Akron and Cuyahoga Falls is easy today, just going out State Rd and there you go. One hundred and fifty years ago to do the same trek took considerations, and it was the weather which made up one’s mind. For the reader who hasn’t a clue about Peck Rd or its location and significance to the Ohio and Erie Canal , well it has no significances at all. Peck Rd is in Akron Ohio bordering Cuyahoga Falls. It lies north of Uhler and south of Sackett Ave. This small road also leads in to part of the Cascade Valley Park system, a place where this signal tree exist, and a topic which led to this. Before we had bridges, crossing streams was a common daily occurrence for some. When Akron was established during the opening of the Ohio and Erie Canal, there were no bridges at all from there to Cuyahoga Falls, or really to anywhere. The signal Tree ironically is located at one of the only places along the Cuyahoga River where it was passable, the other miles upstream blocked by huge canyon walls. This same area was used by our native Indians long before us, namely the Portage Trail. This trail basically went overland from the road we know today as Portage Trail beginning at the river ending up on the opposite side of the Cuyahoga River just across from Peck Rd. Many don’t realize that Peck Rd actually extended to Sackett Ave we have today. This can be verified also and slight remembrances of the road still exist. There were no crossings at all down river until the late 1800s, and up river none to speak of. In the years to follow brought crossings, one standing today is just south of the Sheridan Hotel at Broad St where long ago Morgo Lincoln Mercury once sat. This bridge looks over steep canyon walls with an easy 100 foot drop to the river. The Sheridan Hotel today overlooks the river, but looking down into the river has yet machinery left over from a time long gone which once operated Vaughn Machining that sat there prior. Just downstream, long ago an amusement park was erected right there on the Cuyahoga, evidence still can be found.
Hello Jeff, being from Stark County could you explain a couple of things at Lock 4? The bronze plaque claims 142 locks, is it accurate? Whats the purpose of the 8 inch pipes sticking upward next to the lock? and are you sure that particular lock had wings which guided the boat into place?
Canalwayman Lock 4: The sign claims 142 locks is surely incorrect. There was 44 from Akron going down to Lake Erie from its summit north. 33 more locks going south into Dresden Junction from Barberton. Climbing the Licking to Hebron, we had 20 more. On the Buckeye Lake Summit, 2 more. 55 from Buckeye Lake to the Ohio Rive
The post at lock
The post at lock 4 come long after the canal era had ended. These served one purpose, they were chalks to tie off to when Stark Parks long ago ran a scenic shuttle boat ride along the canal that began and ended there. The lock remained in working order and still is, the boats had engines.
I personally went there today because the wording of your question sounds as if I should have a look myself. The original lock was without wings to guide the boats into the chamber. I can say this with 100 percent accuracy because all 4 corner stones are still behind the tenders house, one of them is to the north. These stone or blocks have the edges rolled around and I know enough to know they are corner blocks because the slide channels are in them, used to block out water during repairs or shut off the water.
2183-I live in Portsmouth and I'm certain you are well aware of the quack with initials J R. Man her stories are way out there and just don't add up. I attended a couple of your meetings here and I know you know your business concerning the canal and our area too. Please give an explanation of Red Bridge at lock 54 and why it spanned the Scioto River.
2184-Red Bridge once was hard to explain because I was only getting bits and pieces about it.Lock 55 born out of necessity, or was it.Lock 55 come along way too late in the game to be of any use.Portsmouth was never actually connected directly with the canal with the nearest lock being 54 across the Scioto River on Portsmouths opposite bank. Portsmouth tried to operate a ferry which ran with a guide wire to keep it from getting away into the Ohio River. The Scioto River wasn't reliable enough to be used for this crossing and the task of dredging and the equipment to do so wasn't there. Up and down the Scioto were makeshift bridges and ferry's were common then, but the Scioto can also swell from its slow moving waters into a dangerous raging river.When the water was up, it usually wiped out any crossings. The area of Lock 54 was an ideal place to build a bridge, this bridge connected West Portsmouth to Town.A bridge was constructed doing just that and it was wooden structure that more often than not succumbed to the confluence of the two rivers.Looking around Portsmouth, its easy to see that other bridges followed and they're not there either. This cannot be verified but I was told the bridge was painted red and was illuminated by lanterns so river boats entering the Scioto could make out the span at night and in the fog. That's all I have.
2185-There aren't any archives or records available concerning the canal days of Portsmouth, where do I go to find even a crumb?
2168-to 2185: Good Luck, Portsmouth isn’t very rich in having around too much concerning the canal. I have stated this many times before, Portsmouth wasn’t actually tied to the canal. Now just across the river in West Portsmouth, there was plenty of canal action. There was a rivalry and dislike between the two places because Portsmouth didn’t get the canal, oh they wanted it, but greed took over and the plans to connect to Portsmouth were smashed when wealthy politicians bought up the land on the original proposed canal route, in hopes to rape the state selling it to them. This has happened before in nearly every town the canal was set to come into. The biggest scandal of all was on the layout going into Akron, these lands were bought up by Alfred Kelly and Simon Perkins, thus making them very rich. The politicians in Portsmouth were pretty upset and shunned the canal and were on bad terms with the ones who they worked with when they lobbied to gain the canal into town, many lost all their wealth when it backfired. Being a river town and not a canal town very little information was kept. West Portsmouth and the O.C. Barbee store housed all the information in the day.
Terry from Portsmouth -can't find records said...
2185-There aren't any archives or records available concerning the canal days of Portsmouth, where do I go to find even a crumb?
December 5, 2014 at 4:35 AM
Jeff Maximovich said...
2186-to 2185: Good Luck, Portsmouth isn’t very rich in having around too much concerning the canal. I have stated this many times before, Portsmouth wasn’t actually tied to the canal. Now just across the river in West Portsmouth, there was plenty of canal action. There was a rivalry and dislike between the two places because Portsmouth didn’t get the canal, oh they wanted it, but greed took over and the plans to connect to Portsmouth were smashed when wealthy politicians bought up the land on the original proposed canal route, in hopes to rape the state selling it to them. This has happened before in nearly every town the canal was set to come into. The biggest scandal of all was on the layout going into Akron, these lands were bought up by Alfred Kelly and Simon Perkins, thus making them very rich. The politicians in Portsmouth were pretty upset and shunned the canal and were on bad terms with the ones who they worked with when they lobbied to gain the canal into town, many lost all their wealth when it backfired. Being a river town and not a canal town very little information was kept. West Portsmouth and the O.C. Barbee store housed all the information in the day.
December 8, 2014 at 3:01 AM
Anonymous said...
2187---How can you blog this inappropriate information about Portsmouth. There wouldn’t be a canal without the Portsmouth tie to the Ohio River. Get your facts in order Mr.Maximovich!!!!. Scioto County was the entire common wealth below Heath.
December 9, 2014 at 2:09 PM
Jeff Maximovich said...
2188-Whoever you are, remaining unknown is probably better, because we’d know who the idiot is who posted in the previous blog listing. West Portsmouth, not the town of Portsmouth, both places were separated by a large river. West Portsmouth was very busy up and around Union Mills and locks 50 down to Elbow Lock had it going on. Back then you guys looked across the river and wept. A distillery ran on the West Portsmouth side , again not Portsmouth, and when the canal dried up, Slab Run supplied the water which kept it going.
2190-Theres really a lot out there about lock 19 called Black Dog Crossing; if there is I don’t have it. What I do know is that the railroad tracks crossed the canal; the trains were dubbed Black Dogs. We must remember back then that the layout of the land was much different than today’s observation. Uhler Ave, wasn’t there and a rickety bridge that crossed the Cuyahoga River just north of what’s there now. Another interesting thing to know is at that location on the eastern side of the river was the terminus for the Chuckery Race, a mind vision of Eliakim Crosby, and his water power ideas all fizzled out with the lack of financial backers. This lock was in the proximity of Memorial Parkway and the Uhler connection. There was also a train station back in there and its foundations still stand a couple of hundred yards north of the ball fields. On record it was named, Black Dog Station of the B&O Railroad. I have a piece of news print from the Tuesday just following Easter Sunday of 1913, its topic the flood. Trains of the B&O have been held up for hours. They did not dare cross the black swirling waters which impeded their path in several places. No.12 of the B&O was held at the Black Dog Station, No.8, is due here at 5.41 and No.7, and is due here at 5:55. Neither train has arrived.
2191-Ive always wondered the exact whereabouts of the former lock 24 in Coshocton County. Knowing the layout pretty good it was narrowed down within a couple of feet. I’m always looking and today while investigating I was lucky enough to land on solid ground by locating an aerial view of the area in 1970 and to my surprise it was still there. Its location was slightly cadi corner and barely due west of Unusual Junction.
2192--Could never find 23 along that stretch of road.
2193-- State Route 36, is in part paved right over-top the former Ohio and Erie Canal. Its my strong belief that lock 23 was used for fill. I mean it was bulldozed upward to make a road bed.But, they didn't get all of it. If i were looking for what is remaining, look here,after leaving Newcomerstown and crossing the Blue-ridge Culvert turn left and proceed up the hill. Once you've crested the hill on the left is a mobile home village, in front a row of tress, the lock sat right there.There is still a couple of chamber blocks they missed building the road.
2194-How many boats operated in 1913?
2195-None! when 1913 come around the canal was finished, although it has been operating until a year or so before then.The last days that I have any record of was in 1910.The canal even if was operational till its demise, 1913 wouldn't had been in use yet because of the long winter of 1912 and 13. So 1912 would have been its last year of operation.I'm certain somewhere a boat was being used, if so it was really localized because most of the canal was down.
2196-- A trivia question,which northern canal town was documented as a town where three of our Presidents visited.
2197- Black Dog Crossing continued. I was going through everything I had looking for the exact spot where Lock 19 on the Northern Portage staircase once sat. First of all, I want to say that in the height of summer in 2005 the Little Cuyahoga River was merely inches deep. Being low gave me the perfect opportunity to start looking for anything that I feel was related to this missing lock. It got confusing when so much debris had been washed downstream for miles on end. I thought the exploration would conclude by the time the little river met the Big Cuyahoga. I was thrown back in my thinking because the lock chambers were rebuilt using concrete and there was so much of it to choose from scattered through the entire river and millions of bricks. But I did manage to find a couple of lower coarse blocks which fit the bill of being from a lock chamber. These were found in the big river a good distance from where the lock sat. But again these may had been from an abutment of a nearby bridge that was washed away. There was and still is plenty of one sided finished concrete that stands a good candidate of being a wall of the lock chamber. I did find a rudder of a canal boat in its late stages of decay, but it was a rudder. There’s no doubt that I walked over and through remains of lock 19. Its exact whereabouts were as follows: at Uhler and Memorial Parkway sets a bridge, formerly another bridge was just feet north of this one there today, its foundations exist. This is the very spot a steel bridge was built that crossed both the river and the canal. The bridge that exists today’s western end marks the absolute exact spot where Lock 19 once sat.
2198-to 2196-Three Presidents visited Canal Fulton over the years, as follows: William Henry Harrison while doing the” Hard Cider Campaign” was there in 1840. While enjoying passage on the luxury packet “Rod Roy”, John Quincy Adams stopped in November 1843, and following that; in 1850 James Garfield, they were all were guest at Babst Tavern.
I was told by a canal historian that the former town of Milan now Canal Fulton was originally built in Indian Territory, any truth to that?
Was lock 4 in Stark County a candidate for a canal museum at one time?
2199-Milan: Up until the Treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785, the lands to the west of the Tuscarawas River were considered to be Indian Territory. This would have included Milan, except, Milan wasn’t around then. Milan comes many years later. Even after Ohio had became a state the area along the river where Milan eventually was founded was inhabited by Indians up until July 4th 1805 when they were pushed off. Milan of Stark County Ohio was founded by Mathew Rowland in the year 1814.
2200-Lock 4 in stark County was the proposed sight of the canal museum. This was a brainchild of many who envisioned a working lock and passages up and down the canal. The first meeting on this was directed by the Stark County Historical Society and took place on April 29th, 1969. The intended purpose of this meeting was to layout the proposed plans to turn lock 4 into the canal museum of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The work was too completed by September of the same year. Men went to work and reconstructed the doors on both ends of the lock and make it a working unit. The men who done the work was a maintenance crew of the metropolitan board and overseen by Jack Cullen the canal lands coordinator. The plans hit a wall and the project was scrapped. Supposedly an original canal boat was in the works and too be used at the museum. I’ve done extensive research and remain at loss to which boat was being refurbished for this undertaking.
Hey Jeff i must say wow what ambition and fortitude you have. It looks like this sight hasn't been active for 11 years, what happened.Anyhow that so called aqueduct bridge on North Arlington had me intrigued. I'm a amateur historian and took to foot looking this claim over. I acquired an old map of the P&O long ago but never connected the dots. Undoubtedly that span was used first by the canal and later by the railroad. I cant make out all the hieroglyphs on the stones there and above on the other culvert. They look Masonic. Good work and I look forward to your post on Facebook they are really something.
2202 answering a question posted February 3rd 2014. The question was posting 2167-2168
Its not open water to the Ohio River. The Tuscarawas had many sizeable dams, and if the hadn't been there and was sufficient enough water it could be done; all the obstacles are man made
2128-I find all of this fascinating and seeing someone bringing back our rich past is great. I never understood the canal system, but certain I will by the time I get up to speed reading your post. Do you ever engage in speaking and if so when is your next.
I have a question, just out of curiosity living in Hanoverton I was under the impression thee Rebecca Furnace was the largest working forge in Ohio and its products were used state wide in the early days.
I noticed your facebook has a posting quite frequently about early days of Akron, I was intrigued about Wolf Ledges , who would have ever thought a sizeable gorge was filled in for road and railways. Nice work and we read your history and learn
Answering the question posted by Earl Thomas:Furnace Forge Summit are some of the oldest streets in Akron. With industry growing the need for as open hearth forge was apparent. Nails metal strappings and axles and just about everything steel was coming from Lisbon Ohio made at the Rebecca Furnace. Lisbon in comparison through time was merely a pebble in size to what Akron grew into. The old forge in Akron dwarfed Rebecca Furnace and was the powerhouse forge throughout the region. Long ago all the streets mentions culminated to and around this forge and it was the life support for early manufacturing in and around Akron. The forge sat in the bottom lands along the Little Cuyahoga River and then it split there and the south channel was used by the forge. It housed a full black smithing operation and repaired anything from a shovel to a rifle. They really grew when the Ohio and Erie Canal came through by making all the tooling for the diggers it made all the metal strappings the lock mechanism construction called for and boat parts too. They made boilers down to horse shoes. The metal was raw pig iron brought overland coming from the Mesabi range area Metal was hard to find then and there was no surplus source of scrap like we have today. The Eliakim Crosby water way was uphill it ran along the south rim of the valley opposite Lookout Street there today in North Hill. A water shoot of that Chanel also supplied water for the forge. The bottom of Summit Street at Furnace next to the mission were coal bins still now sit but in the earlier years the furnace was fired by wood.
Its been a long time since I seen action on this sight. I want to go on record saying you were a real thorn in their sides on the CSO.Its a real shame they discredited your work so badly and at the end of the race they conformed knowing you were correct and their work needed an overhaul. I especially enjoyed the early Saturday when you appeared at their newest finding which was a big missing link to Urichsville connection to the Trenton Feeder. They made a big deal of that and tried taking your credit. They were astonished to find you named and claimed that years earlier and posting a published GPS, wow that must had been a let down for them. Why was such a war raging between you guys anyhow.
This war was all started when my name was picking up steam I was new guy on the history block, and their day in the sun was twenty years earlier.I bought their book and felt happily overwhelmed with its historical facts mileage reports and numbering.As I began on my own sightseeing tour of this historic canal, things didn't add up.Names were listed wrongly and their pictorial didn't match the numbers of the lock positions. So, stemming from that I started into libraries from home to Portsmouth and collected anything available. I contacted one of the book authors and he already knew of me because the Cleveland Plain Dealer did a huge article on my work.We met at the Massillon library he wanted TO SPEAK FACE TO FACE and he asked if I found discrepancies in their book I replied so far, forty and the biggest being the center fold page and its name and numbering. He hit the roof and said I understand you're writing a book and yes I replied. Its apparent your information will be different so I'm telling you upfront not too. If you do at least match our work and I said its not good. They set out on a hell bent coarse to make my work look bad. In the end I turned it around after going and giving many speeches where they sat front row asking trickery questions and I was able to discredit them.Their book was changed after a million publications sold to realign with my beliefs and facts. They tried to be buddy buddy with me at other historical meetings but the damage was done. Their book was done by students of Kent State history department, by students wanting to get a good grade long ago. Actually 175 names filled the bibliography of theirs and I and had one entry, me. What they did to me was truly mean and disrespectful and It went further by having a professor at Akron University History come on-board backing them. I had Kent State history and Akron siding in with them. the bottom line is I was right and they were wrong. For instance, I post that I found a missing link in the canal locks in Webbsport which is near the big basket company Longenburger company out on 36 towards Newark. I did find it, they had it listed as lost. I went and waited there the next days and everyone of them showed up and I laughed to myself seeing that and that activity went on and on. Looking back this is my feelings about them. They were hardened around the heart that someone came behind them and actually had a deeper passion and I really cant say a good word about any of them. I found the missing canal lift lock to the Still Water Creek from the Trenton Feeder south of New Philadelphia long long ago. I posted a GPS signal on it to make it my find and then years later the Canal Society of Ohio made a big splash about this great finding. I was home on a Friday night and a member of the CSO came by home and said Jeff go to the Trenton Lock tomorrow you found buried theres a big deal going down there someone, found it.I went down and said hey fellas I listed this 5 years ago and if you paid attention you would know that.I found every sight on the 308 mile long canal no matter what or where and GPS went on. I found the missing Lock 42 in Cleveland and it goes on and on.
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The Jornada Del Muerta Desert is a strange name and how it earned this is a story of its own. The English translation simply means, The Journey of Death. For those caught out there on this desert during the hostile years just might be their final journey in life. This region can still be found by that name yet on any road atlas of the southern New Mexico and El Paso Texas area. On most maps it spells out the name the Journey of Death making it a real name and event. This barren land is the desert floor lying between many mountain ranges from El Paso nearing Las Cruces north to Socorro. This lies between the San Andres the Caballo and other foot hills and mountains. During the Spanish occupation all travel was done on foot, horseback or wagon usually within the safety of pack mule trains and caravans. By using this desert meant it was the last resort which meant there was hostile Indian trouble along the river. Mostly all movement was north and south through New Mexico. The desert was the most direct and shortest passage but known as the deadliest trek from El Paso to Santa Fe. Ironically there was a road blazed by Spanish explorers of long ago during the early days named in honor of Spain’s king. Its name was the Kings Road or in the later years was the Don Juan De Onate Trail; others refer to it as the El Camino Real. It’s obvious the El Camino had many branches going inland some even climbing California’s west coast. Regardless of its name, in New Mexico this dusty dirt road bordered the Rio Grande River. This road was merely just a couple of feet away from the river. The barrier dividing the river from the Jornada desert is a mountain range. This desert was by no-means the chosen route but the alternative when catching the sight of the Apaches and other killers waiting along the river.
Once you turned out onto this desert north whether be-it a caravan or a traveler you were committed. The only release was turning back around or days further up range where there’s a break in the mountains, a pass leading back out to the Rio Grande River Valley. It was several days up range from El Paso to the Palomas Gap.
In today’s time White Sands Missile Range consumes a large portion of this desert. That wasn’t always how it was. Everything changed when great amounts of gold bars were found in the 1940s and its then the government boundaries were re-established. When this gold discovery hit, and the telegraph wires lit on fire. Quickly word spread far and wide and miners from all over the west set their sights on New Mexico. Soon this desolate desert came alive swarming with men colliding claims. It brought in the worst of the worst and the BLM- Bureau of Land Management had their hands full. In the pursuit of personal wealth unfortunately there came violence and numerous killings. Beware was the word because a man’s face can be deceptive you learned that a smile was a frown upside down and behind the eyes may lie a ruthless killer. The hills and mountains were soon crawling with men who were in desperate search for Spanish gold, in doing so turning over every stone and looking behind every bush; who without hesitation would kill you if they thought you had something. Those who did find something kept it quiet and many were killed when leaving the area in doing so sent a message to on-lookers you found something heading towards the assay office. For many men, this searching there was their last calling it’s their final home. For the lawless who thrived on the weak was easy with having no recourse, well it was paradise they capitalized by killing stealing. During this place in time it was the 1940s, back then and things were so desolate. It might as well be the 1840s or the 1640s because in the New Mexico desert time sits still, because it doesn’t matter when you don’t have to be anywhere. Even to this day this harsh area hasn’t yet any real law enforcement to speak of, except the immigration patrolling and they rarely ever go on foot. From experience one could hide behind a rock and they would drive right on by.
JEFF MAXIMOVICH PREFACE 2010 is above. During this claim explosion a simple shovel or a pick became almost priceless and the cost of provisions skyrocketed and dynamite was readily available at a huge cost. Drinking gambling and saloons and brothels sprang up quick. Up until this discovery of these gold bars, the treasure trove myth of the lost Spanish gold held no real substance except talk and made up stories. It all changed with one gigantic find and they came and set up camp. Through the evenings one could see the hills were dotted with campfires filled with scores drunken miners dreaming out loud and plenty of gun play. Many claims were so land locked one would have to trample on another’s claim and often lead to death unless you paid a toll. Men talked of this lost fortune for years on end, just wondering daydreaming of its whereabouts. Most men who were living this life were out of touch with reality tucked away from the real world. For them this living good all you needed was a good strong mule some tools plenty of whiskey and a loaded pistol. Many stayed in the mountains and died carrying the folklore of the lost treasures of Spanish Empire, most never shared information. Finding these treasures was a one in a million chance and only one man stumbled into a burial trove of gold.
Gold has magnetic properties; it adheres to men’s minds. This mythological story was enough of an excuse for so many to hang on too. Then this great gold discovery hit which took away all the mythological aspects and blew folklore questionability straight into reality.
The Jornada Del Muertos played into this one fortunate miner’s life who stumbled onto an enormous amount of gold bars. As history claims these treasures were taken from the Spanish long ago and hidden away by the Indians as retaliation for Spanish cruelties. This particular miner’s newly found fortune ended up his misfortune by his own bragging rights; and by doing so set up his own deadly destiny.
This region suddenly was a hot bed as the word spread and New Mexico was experiencing the California gold rush days nearly one hundred years later. The surrounding towns Mineral Wells down to Las Cruces and north to Santa Fe was swarmed by archeologist and treasure hunters and of course the G Men who’s listening. This miner was murdered for what he knew and the word was out that the government was the perpetrators. The government jumped in quickly and took lives and seized valid claims deeming them invalid and collected the gold bars by enacting eminent domain thus expanding their borders calling this new area White Sands Missile Range.
2012 -2011 is above continuation of PREFACE:
This story which follows played out all over New Mexico onto this desolate desert. The Spanish ruled this land for hundreds of years and mercilessly enslaved the native inhabitants and worse. They began a new culture which thrives today and brought Christianity but their cruel domain ran its course and they stayed on much too long. Greed lust and power kept them hanging on and their stubborn pride stood infront of obvious signals that it was time to go. They were warned to leave and one day the clock ran out. The Spanish government and civilian population beforehand they were granted safe passage out of this land but contingent on a specified time frame; and the time had already passed to flee the land safely. By the time it had sank in their heads an imminent change of power was closing in and their mighty conquistadores were beaten, again it was far too late.
The Spanish population who once believed they were safe had a change of heart with constant Indian attacks and killings with no real answers. The general public heads were filled with lies by those they trusted; they lost all faith in their conquistadores for protection. The civilians and army alike set their sights south and they began running. It was a desperate maneuver for the safety below the Rio Grande into Mexico they were hindered by a hungry wolf pack of blood thirsty Indians programmed to kill turn and kill again. While fleeing in their wake could see the warriors dust clouds thus fear factor pushing them forward into where other Indians were waiting ahead. For many running it’s their final stretch of life; some make it, but thousands will never leave New Mexico; their bones will wither forever. For many as the story goes must have thought the apocalypse was bearing down and they just gave up. They stopped and prayed for the lord’s mercy and they were butchered where they knelt.
All of these happenings culminated through centuries the native habitants had been pinned down and wanted freedom. Salvation formulated through a strong medicineman who gave them the strength and enough will to push their oppressors out in the year was 1680. In this strive the Indians struck up a huge victory and took back what was theirs, but it’s a temporary win. They shouldn’t have felt invincible in doing so turned their backs on the Spanish Army without worry or further concern for repercussions. By getting complacent and lazy they should have watched their enemy closer and it cost them their freedom again. It took Spain many years to reorganize an assault and they cautiously calculated their plan of attack. The Spanish sent in Indian spies who were handsomely paid for their betrayal. They reported back for assessment and the army went through a rigorous serious military overhauls for their return. The Spaniards had no options and the cost of life on their side was expendable with millions in treasures up there somewhere locked away in those mountains, they had no choice except to return. They did return full bore a decade later with more modern and sophisticated armaments and won an easy victory reclaiming New Mexico, but still the treasures stay hidden.
Jornada Del Muerto translates to the journey of death or some say it means day of death. Two hundred and fifty years later this land kills again; it surely kept up to its name. During the Second World War the Jornada Del Muerto Desert through the atomic bomb Project named Manhattan sent its death half the way around the world and delivered a destructive blow not once, but twice ending a war. This weapon was secretly developed and tested on Terra earth right there in New Mexico and detonated at the Trinity Test Site near Socorro. Ironically these weapons were built on the same land which coined the name The Journey of Death. The weapon was the atomic bombs that went on a journey of death to Japan, ironically the area of desert was named centuries beforehand after the events which played out in August 1680.
2013 beginning of Chapter 1 the Introduction
These following pages will outline a wide spectrum of events coupled by love happiness and cruelties. You’ll read where kindness and goodness stand face to face with a strong evil force. This standoff began long ago with mankind’s earthly beginnings and unfortunately it still carries on, just look around.
This book spans a dark chapter woven in time for the Indian tribes living here at home under foreign rule. The Spanish explorers come here bearing cheap gifts and smiling faces that quickly turned ugly. Abroad the Spanish kingdom was being overthrown by invaders and in haste the solutions were being sought out how to save their kingdom and wealth. Many reports came back of their acquisitions and after close review and considerations and mostly desperation they set their eyes on the new world. Their search ended in a foreign land; a special place far from seaports or a possible land invasion it will be named New Spain.
All these events portrayed in these pages played out so long ago. The stage which follows was set on the desolate landscape of New Mexico way back when. New Mexico as we know it now had another name given when it was claimed by Spain. History proves that Spain seized and took without discretion new acquisitions claiming them as new discoveries and with that they claimed entire gulf region as their own. To the north of Mexico and was prime land with many mystical stories that attracted Spain’s interest like a magnet. Just above the Rio Grande River sat a territory with vast open spaces and cavernous mountain regions; it’s told to have riches beyond belief. Prior expedition’s and surveyors told stories of golden cities with golden roads paved with golden bricks. This new acquisition was quickly named Nueva Espana meaning New Spain. This desolate place was the tribal home for many Indians going back a thousand years prior to the day Spain set foot on their soil.
Nueva Espana we know of as New Mexico was their up back plan just in-case the kingdom needs to flee. The kingdom kept hearing promising stories of prior expeditions pointing to this land as flowing with gold and silver. They believed these stories too because earlier expeditions into other regions to its south have proved it so. They also believe they can easily befriend the Indians enough to trust them for help, then kill them. At home Spain is in trouble due to its own karma which stirred a century old war that’s stacking against them; the threat of a land invasion looks eminent. Spain was in turmoil and it looked hopeless it was nearly the time to pack up and go. A decision was being made and kept hush-hush of who goes and just who gets thrown to the wolves. Surely, they know that the entire population cannot leave and knowing they will easily be taken by the invading forces has no impact or remorseful feelings. The selected were the kings court along with close family his and staff and the church hierarchy will cross into the new world. The armadas will carry the bulk of military. With powerful suggestions and greed and the appeal for their safety reasons they looked westward and they hastily sent Spain’s fortunes abroad secretly as the first phase of the countries moving or running. On their second voyage the selected will board and set sail for the new world the military will be somewhat established and desolate hiding places for the country’s wealth already implemented. The nobility can rest easy knowing the wealth has been hidden safely by then.
2013 CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 1
2013 Chapter 1 PART 2 This fortune was destined by karma to be elusive, lost in time because it’s all stolen from another country and surely every piece had a death connected to it. The destiny of this cargo took hold from the very second the treasures were loaded onboard and set sail west crossing the Atlantic. A good portion was taken back by the sea; this story outlines the remainder. The remainder of this vast treasure finally sat ashore near Vera Cruz then was moved up north into Nueva Espana then hidden away and that’s the last any of it was seen until the 1940s. The risk factor in hiding it was still a better than an invading force claiming it back in Spain. The passages abroad are long and can take up to half a year by the time a ship sets sail and reaching foreign ports and the return trip home. During that time span wars are fought and ended and new news was old news. In time Spain had to deal with the un-thinkable misfortune when its risk completely failed by shipping its wealth overseas and then set back and stunned discovering it was lost to a bunch of wild Indians. Through a streak of luck Spain called its mighty armada home and won a decisive victory squashing their century old war. They called for the return of the nation’s wealth and wait half a year to learn it’s gone. This news hit them hard finding found out they were bankrupt; but they knew their treasures lie hidden somewhere in that foreign land and they sent over legions and tried to maneuver the Indians in many ways to give it back.
All of these things which happened and their loss of their wealth were self inflicted by their own actions; again, it’s called karma. Due to Indian uprisings brought on by Spanish cruelties the rest of the fortune lays lost and to this day this treasure still lay hidden in this vast land. This book portrays a life and death struggle of the Indian nations; it also portrays one family who was formed during these acts of aggression.
Long ago the Indians roamed here they respected their land and the animals. They never took anything for granted and wasted nothing. The Indian people of this land were un-fortunately locked in a stalemated time capsule and they never advanced in technology. Being compliant with nature as they were, it never called for a change while other countries moved forward and expanded. These tribes were still very primitive in life and weaponry which consist of what was only necessary for the hunt; and for that reason alone, they were easily conquered.
2013 CHAPTER 1 PART 3 CONCLUDES CHAPTER1
A dark force called the Spanish Empire swarmed into their land and took away the only life they had ever known. For a thousand upon thousands of years these Indian tribes lived in harmony with the earth and nature. All of this stopped the minute Spain set foot on Indian lands or anywhere else. The Indians by comparison were rendered helpless against such an invading force and modern weaponry. They were un-educated in the battle tactics, there wasn’t any unity between tribes nor had the knowledge to assemble with a force so much more powerful bearing down.
In the beginning of the dark years the Indian didn’t have the know-how or leadership. In time they proved to be the toughest advisories the Spanish army has ever comes up against. Every cruel act the Indians carried out against the Spanish was a carbon copy of the same cruelties done on to them. To effectively beat this army of mighty conquistadores would be difficult; it would take careful planning and strong leadership; and it was forming.
The Indians were under Spanish rule for years turning into decades spilling over into centuries. The people cried out for help and from these cries the strong forces both good and bad were awakened and the competition between the two was at hand.
This competition in the end brought deliverance for the native Indians living here; but at what cost, what did these docile people turn into after centuries of rule. They became the aggressive killers carrying out hateful acts of cruelties. In the end when the final chapter of Spanish Occupation was closing up it appears the dark side as the winner as it took over the minds of both sides fighting. But was it really the winner; one might say not after reading what follows? Even in the bleakest of times and as the worst events unfold, somehow somewhere goodness and kindness roams; this unique force is Satan’s worst enemy.
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