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
Certain stories are subject to ALL RIGHTS RESERVED which will be acknowledged at the beginning of the story. No part of a specific story may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal. Any stories which fall under the terms listed, are not to be used for cinematic purposes without permission.
The Johnny Apple Seed of the Ohio & Erie Canal
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2,142 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1001 – 1200 of 2142 Newer› Newest»Zoar part 3 said...
They, the fold, and all who were involved in this way of life thought this was normal and never knew any different or another way of life. But Baumeler had a special gift; some may have called it evil. He had mind power over the weak minded them and exploited his ability in a demonic way over his people.
Great, great grandfather said that in his forties he began to learn about the outside world. The Ohio Canal and its influence for many years past by then has altered their way of life. Members who were tired of the restricted ways were leaving the fold. Going into the 1880s and the women more and more were marrying and getting pregnant by outsiders. Those who done so were banished forever without a chance of returning, but never intended on returning. There was no family structure within the infrastructure of the Zoarolites with children hardly knowing who their parents were. During his life, Baumeler was the parent to all young and old and he alone made decisions on marriage, punishment, money and every simple decision was stripped away from the people and was made solely by him. People were not aloud to voice opinion and had to obediently obey every command without questioning it. Baumeler while alive and his descendants after his death maintained a watchful eye over the flock; they practiced polygamy to the fullest. The young Zoarolites males wanted to work hard and live long enough to become an elder only to be rewarded with young wives for his life’s work. That was the way of life there he said. It was unheard of that young ladies ever would marry a man close to their own age, the choice wasn’t there own to decide. In every marriage he could remember the elders were of 40 to 60 years of age would marry a girl as young as 12, even daughters that was acceptable by the standards of the Society of the Separatist and those who had written these rules. The word of these things began filtering out into Stark and Tuscarawas Counties and the local law enforcement being the Sherriff paid many visits to the compound concerning such allegations. The elders were warned that they couldn’t live by such appalling rules and would be jailed if tried and convicted. Only by a watchful eye of the law enforcement the old ways were unraveling and both boys and girls began to intermingle. With new change, the society was loosing its grip on its members who found out they had a mind of their own and opinion and many become rebellious. My great great grandfather lived into the 1930s and his wife outlived him by years both of them lived full lives. He never said too much in an angry way about the system he grew up within and was sorry that it disbanded when it did. He wished it would had conformed and changed for the better. We understand grandfather just like the others during his life had several wives but had to settle down with one by the law. Before the society collapsed the word and their way of life disturbed their neighboring communities and many religious groups marched on them and caused a boycott against doing further business.
1177- Bimeler, alias Baumeler fled Europe running from religious persecution and a certain death. I read this article on this blog and its hits the truth, not some all glorious fairy tale life of these wonderful people who were thrown out of their native land for no cause. Baumeler thought he was a prophet and lived the Old Testament in its fullest capacity. The younger generation of the Separatist fell away after 1853 the year their leader had died. Their main products were beer, timber and milling and they thirst for the outsider’s money but wanted nothing else to do with us. It was all business! There seems to be a negative outlook on the society and there should be, when a single person can rule every movement of every living soul within his fold. The society ran its course and ended slowly with its values withering away as the years passed by. Baumeler never envisioned that this country would accelerate and within a few short years becoming an industrial giant bringing people to Ohio by the droves. His strife was to be alone in the wilderness with his flock. Today in our society we have the Amish who still hold Baumeler’s values. In the Amish community incest is a part of life and it’s not to uncommon for young Amish girls to give birth impregnated by her father. The Amish pulled off what Baumeler intended to do. Baumeler’s ways live on.
1178 --hey canalwayman are you still working your way south on the canal towpath. What's your opinion on the Granger rd. crossover?
Granger Rd. cross over bridge Canalwayman said...
1179 responding to 1178- Yes, I am heading south down the towpath. I was held up by some unexpected family business. I hope to complete this adventure by September. At this juncture, I have made it to the Alexander Rd. Wilson Mills area of the canal, which puts me about 13 miles in.
The towpath cross over at Granger Rd. was a necessity in the name of safety for those who are using the bike trail, formerly the towpath. From its elevations, one can get a great view of the canal for quite a distance. It has a strange and gaudy design but serves its purpose.
I wish to point out that we are putting far too much energy into the opinions about the Society of the Separatist and the articles about Joseph Baumeler. There are many quality canal related subjects to get involved in rather than to keep digging into that portion of our history.
July 8, 2009 3:55 AM
July 1, 2009 -Beginning at Harvard Road opens another exciting leg of my way towards Portsmouth. With 5 miles behind me and some are happy with our results and findings and again I set out slowing moving south. I’m accompanied by a canal enthusiast who shares the same interest as I do. We met at the former lock location of Rathbun’s lock 41, and we explored that area for hours, there and along the river. It’s apparent the river had some relocation work there as well. Although he has a different way of thinking, it’s always good to have more than one thought process at work. Some of the other researchers grew tired of my persistence and flared up a time or two because I wanted to keep on going over the same stuff again and again. Finally, he had enough, after a couple of days of tiring exploring and the expense from Akron plus the long hours he put in with us, he quit. I do apologize for wanting to be accurate about the former path of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Our differences erupted often about the canals course. Maps show it was running below the bluffs and we even found an area where the earth was indented and had some vegetation growing on its banks. Inside what I speculated as the canal prism actually was, and the proof lay just below the surface dirt when removed, I managed to dig up clay. This portion of the canal was dug out through looses aggregate and that alone called for a thick layer of clay to seal the canal preventing it from draining back into the earth. All in all, even with bitter disagreement at hand it has its up-side, you have to prove your point and stemming from that, the correct answers are usually un-covered.
1181--June 1, 2009-Working around the site of the former lock 41 revealed an interesting find about the locks position before it was removed. The bike path parking lot off of Harvard Ave. sits at a slightly northeasterly angle and the towpath and lock chamber was at a 15° easterly direction from due a north setting running almost parallel to it. Just beyond Harvard Ave the earth makes a natural drop making it necessary to place a lock chamber in the canal to continue it on during construction. After the 1870s this was the second to last lock on the canals northern end. I have been locked in debate about the depth of that lock chamber and opinions vary. One of our best researchers claims it to a shallow depth lock at or about only three feet in depth. I once leaned towards that direction and left it alone, but later evidence and plenty of measuring would make me believe this lock had a minimum depth of 6 to 8 feet. Heading south down the towpath from this location has many twist and bends and we’re not going to list them all just to avoid sheer boredom. We’ll touch on various things; most of them have been recognized and documented by the many who are involved in researching the Ohio and Erie Canal.
1182- I live in Clinton, Ohio off of Van Buren and seldom enough walk the trail and played in the wooded areas growing up. I read here on this site where the Cuyahoga River has been altered up in Cleveland. The Tuscarawas River has yet miles of un-used switchback murkey remains of the original course along Van Buren heading into clinton. Were you aware of it?
1183-I was wandering if the waters of the canal from the Pinery area to where it ends near the pumping station circulates or ends up back in the Cuyahoga River.
1184 responding to 1183- I sit back and "wonder" often about the long days along the canal and the mechanics of it. Today the temperature is approaching 90 degrees and back then, those long stretches were weary, hot and tiresome. The flies must have been difficult to deal with having a stable on-board the canal boat.
During the canal era the canal had a current moving at all times, slight, but it was there. The tumble or a millhouse set up next to a lock kept the water in motion, that's only when it was in abundant supplies. A lock never remained in an open position by having its upper and lower doors open at the same time, if so, the canal would empty itself on the upper level.
The Pinery Dam & Feeder was the northern most water supply into the Ohio and Erie Canal. Its water gates were located south of the former lock 36 off the Big Cuyahoga River. Ironically, the Pinery Dam yet even 100 years after its reconstruction span the river in perfect condition, as good as new. This dam is under the threat of being removed so the fish can again spawn. The waters from the Pinery Dam fill the canal bed for about 11 miles or so and where the canal bed ends at the old pumping station. I don't believe that a weir is present at the end to remove any run off water back into the river. I don't think the water is stagnant, either, but full of life with fish and vegetation. There are several acting weirs from the Pinery Feeder going north and I believe there is one or two that are slightly beyond where canal Rd, turns into 49th St.
Today the canal serves no purpose at all except for its scenic value from the Pinery Feeder to the pump house. In some cases on that stretch the water runs right through the lock chambers and in other situations still is diverted to a tumble or a mill race. There are some real interesting weirs along the Ohio and Erie Canal; mostly they were constructed to be non adjustable built to automatically regulate the depth. Along the canal we can still find plenty of sluice gates that were necessary when the auto-weirs weren’t enough. Lock 37 near Wilsons Mills has a very unique weir which is operated manually by a series of gears which carries the water back to the Cuyahoga. There is a few other places that I can think of that was similar to it, one was at Lock 1 the north end of the Portage Summit, another was the controls at long Lake at the Portage Lakes Feeder and at Wolf Creek lock 1, that sat on the southern end of the Portage Summit.
1185-Hey Canalwayman you passed by Old Stone Road to get to Wilson Mills, do you know how and why it was named?
1186-Old Stone Rd. runs away from the canal at a southwesterly direction. About a good mile from the towpath at a place where Old Stone Rd. comes to the intersection of Hemlock Rd. sits the old stone quarry. A bridge once spanned the Cuyahoga back in there that’s collapsed and fell in 1913. Stone Rd. connects to Brecksville Rd. to its west from that intersection. Old Stone Quarry supplied the building needs in towns and throughout northern Ohio by canal until 1866, when a rail line moved into the area..
1187-At Rockside Rd. near Canal Rd. the real and original Canal Rd. disappears into the wooded area to the west.
1188- The original towpath turned more northwesterly approaching Rockside Road as the newer pavement ran north where it met the intersection.
Along that particular stretch of the canal between miles 8 and 14 there are many of the original roads dating back into the canal era. Most of them pass over the canal then end. Newer roads with the same names are nearby. There are Old Granger Road, Old Rockside Road, Stone and Hillsides Roads and some without names.
Stone road also known as Old Stone Rd. had acquired its name because the road bed itself was made up of block stone which was the only solid based used where heavy wagon wheels pressed hard into the soft dirt and sank to the axles. By using block stone the roads was always open to traffic.
A really good example of this type of road can still be found west of Portsmouth on Old River Rd. in Alexandria. There is a road leading to the terminus lock 55, on the Ohio River of interest. This road has a hard surface made up of block stones mimicking the same type used in lock building. This road was so well used it has deep ruts caused by the heavy loads in the old wagons.
1189 responding to 1188. I hadn't very good fortune finding River Rd. at Portsmouth. is there another way to reach my objective, does the canal bed take you there?
1190 to 1189- Portsmouth is a bit confusing just beyond the elbow lock 53s former position. We have the Scioto River to your left and the Ohio River is to your right. Lock 53, sits below the Hi-way 52 over pass as your exiting Rt.104 going into Portsmouth. The canal passing below an interchange of roads and is still partially watered coming from a creek in West Portsmouth along Galena Pike. The canal bed diminishes into farm land if you're planning on following the canal bed looking for lock 55. I recommend staying out of there for safety reasons, but if you insist on taking the hard way then head in a 45 degree angle from where the canal passes below the H-way 52 bridge. You'll come to an area which has to be crossed which has some murky water and a lot of trees and limbs piled high. I crossed there and fell through, that scared me to death with the threat of snakes in the area. Eventually I found what was left of the canal bed appearing from a field and the old terminus lock was in view. Remember this for reference, the Carl Perkins Bridge will always be to your left side and the terminus is about a mile down river from it. The easy way to get to this lock site would be to just enter Old River Rd, next to the auto wrecking on Hi-way 52. This entrance can be found by looking for a real tall sign with a Volkswagen Beetle perched on-top. Once you're on that road it will divide to corn fields, stay on it and keep a straight line and after a good mile or better to your surprise a great and wonderful site will appear right before your eyes, Lock 55.
1191 to 1190--The River Road in Alexandria covered a distance from Old Rt.52 the Portsmouth Pike all the way into Portsmouth running next to the Ohio River. Its journey touched two locks, 55 and 54. A ferry crossing was the only and early way into Portsmouth. The year 1840 marks the first of many attempts which were made at placing a solid bridge on both the Ohio and Scioto Rivers. In the hot months both the Scioto and Ohio Rivers could be walked across. Any attempts at building make shift or floating bridges were swept away in the early part of the year generally in the mid winter rise of the Ohio River. Yearly the Ohio River washed out River Rd. In part most of the old road can be distinguished. The Ohio River would back up inland for as many as five miles and from it the canal traffic was halted for months on end. Most of the canal exchange was done further inland at the Union Mills location and the toll keeper’s resident at the general store there on high ground. The old road went directly over lock 55 and continued on. By looking around lock 55 it's hard to imagine that once a bustling commerce was based around the terminus lock.
1192- Where was the town of Bertha located on the Ohio & Erie Canal?
1193 to 1192- Bertha was once near Portsmouth where locks 50, 51 & 52 sat on Sugar Loaf Hill. Bertha was the location of the (Toll Keeper), general store and the Bertha Post Master General. Bertha now is named West Portsmouth.
1194-Union Mills locks 50, 51 and 52 were disrupted annually when the early rains flooded the Ohio Valley. The rise of the Scioto was drastic as well. Often the canal boats were incapable of traveling beyond lock 49, Rush’s Brush Creek which temporarily seconded as the southern terminus. Most of the Scioto Valley locks below Waverly were prone to flooding causing a broken link to the Ohio River and closed (War Road) Rt.104, until the waters receded.
1195-Yet even today the evidence provides the facts that the basin at Rush's Brush Creek was rather large in width and lenght. I would consider that basin to be the largest south of the Jasper basin and much larger than it in actual size.
1195-June 1.2009-It’s my opinion that the canal bed approaching Harvard Ave from the south was filled in by industry. Today we have Alcoa Aluminum foundries sitting partially on the former canal. Looking around the area, we don’t have the half a dozen rail lines that were present in the area during the later years of the canal’s life and lasted well into the twentieth century. Only a piece of the former railroad sits as testament to it being there and a set of wheels rests further down the canal on a section of track. Within the last half mile approaching Harvard Ave., we have some construction going on between the walking path and the river that very well could be reserves of aggregate and limestone piles or a quarry.
From the limestone piles to the watered area of the canal bed at the pumping station, the former towpath almost disappears without a trace. The walking path winds along the river and stays close to it where the original towpath was in and out, a hundred yards at most to its east at a 45 degree angle cutting through an open field that was once a railroad yard. This was also the area of the Austin Powder Works that made ammunition and powder used to fight the south. It was also the area of the Cleveland uniform and textile company who made the uniforms for the northern soldiers. Austin Powder had a second location near locks 16 & 17 on the famous staircase coming down the northern Portage Summit.
As we’re getting closer to the old pumping station, we have a rather large holding lake to the east of the former towpath which is a water supply used at the aluminum facility. The pumping station supplied much of the industries’ water demands for a couple of miles going north. Getting into the mills along the river, they pumped their own water off the Cuyahoga and hadn’t the need to extract from the canal. Only the industries that were perched high on a hill needed the water pumped up to them to survive. I often wondered why they placed their factories where they had and the answer was easy to find, they stayed close to the railroads and shipping lanes and had spurs leading in as a link to the mainline. The pumping station was one of its kinds along the Ohio and Erie Canal and the water demands exceeded its capacity.
From what I understand, the industries wanted to pump off the Cuyahoga in that area to bypass the water supplied by the canal and was denied access to cross canal land to reach the river. Other areas along the canal were used as watering for several industries before and after the collapse of the canal system. Today, yet we have several places that still have to depend on canal water and pay a hefty price for it. The pumping house now sits as a dilapidated structure on the eastern towpath of the canal. I look for that structure to be rehabilitated someday. Part 1
Part 2-The pumping station sort of marks the crossroads of many different trails and service roads coming together. The walking path going south from the pumping station is now on the canal’s western bank. During the canal days, only the watered canal separated the towpath from the railroad that was on the other side. The walking path runs nearly parallel to E 49th St., the home of the Canal Reservation Museum which is a great place to visit. The walking path connects to the access path to reach this facility. Earlier, I passed by an old set of wheels resting on a section of rail.
Near the directional signs on the walking path near the Canal Reservation headquarters you’ll notice an overhead gas line which spans the valley and a trestle next to it of great magnitude as your heading out of the area approaching Canal Rd. That trestle is only one of two which span the canal at such great heights and distance. The next overhead trestle of great size is nearer to the Cascade Locks near Akron. We have an earthen crossover spanning the canal with rather large tubes below allowing the canal to continue onto the south of the great trestle. We have an overflow weir in the area as well. Canal Rd. turns into E49th St. and at that point we have another access road crossing the canal bed. We also have an island between the Cuyahoga and the canal with water on all sides beginning near a weir further down parallel to Canal Rd. This is a rather substantial weir just south of where the roads change names. This weir dumps into a rather large stream that turns south than into the river. I believe this area was the placement of an original weir built during the canal’s construction by the dated block stones that are still present here and there. This concludes the reinvestigation of the northern end on June 1, 2009. We’ll pick up here along Canal Rd. and head towards Wilson Mills another day soon.
1196-I beg to differ with you in concerns about the pumping station because we still have one operational within the B.F.Goodrich complex.
1197- Responding to 1196- That pumping unit within B.F.Goodrich was built to serve only itself. I have had the liberty of being walked through that section of the building and I hate to break this news to you being so smug and sure of yourself, it’s not operational and hasn't been to its full capacity for decades before it was shut down. Whether its up and going now, I can't say. The intake port is several feet above the waterline of the canal according to my personal observation done yesterday and I didn't see any discharge coming out of the discharge port.
1198-Saturday, June15, 2009. Parking at the parking lot at Millcreek I began my reinvestigation of the towpath. I backtracked some to go back over the weir and the discharge area from the water purification plant in the area. Up Millcreek at a place called Millcreek Falls sat a flouring mill that was built below the falls that had an overshot waterwheel to power the facility. Its construction was mainly red brick over a heavy solid sandstone foundation. The name was Millcreek Flouring Co. and it came to its end during the 1913 flood along with countless other enterprises that were destroyed at that time. According to my information, the same flood destroyed the Millcreek Aqueduct. The structure was repaired through the years and its original wooden design was replaced with a heavy steel body that has a cement floor, and it leaks too. Today, the Millcreek Aqueduct and the Wolf Creek Aqueducts are the only two which are left holding water. Wolf Creek Aqueduct sits in a swamp and has no flowing water. The Millcreek site transfers water further down the canal and has two gear-driven sluice gates. The Tinkers Creek aqueduct doesn’t qualify as an aqueduct these days; it’s more of a conduit to carry canal water.
We’re supposed to be heading south, but we’re going over some work up to where I left off on June 1. Heading north we come to the CSX Railroad crossing that crossed both the canal and the Cuyahoga River. This is a very unique site, the pilings date back to its original construction and has the old western style timbers holding up thousands of tonnage. In comparison to the crossing at the Cascade Locks and the others near the Canal Reservation Museum, it’s rather small in size. This old trestle is under Brecksville Rd. at Canal Rd.
Lock 40 sits in the area directly under I-77 and it’s pretty interesting and is the only one of its type on the entire canal system. Although built to the same specifications in width and length, the high side is constructed by use of a spillway at about twenty feet in length. At the top of the ramp there are two wicket doors of normal proportions that are connected to two long metal poles that adjust the angles. It’s clear to imagine that a set of doors rested onto the ramp. The boats had a smooth transition in and out of this lock. I feel its chamber depth wasn’t quite as deep as the standard lock.
Just a bit further up the canal we have a substantial weir that led back to the river. Its length is about thirty feet and it has 18 inches of lumbar placed atop to raise the canal depth. I thought about its reasoning and came up with this conclusion. The water at Millcreek Aqueduct is very shallow, two feet if that. If the weir worked in its normal manner, the bed of the aqueduct would be exposed.
Only a few yards up north from the weir is the discharge from the water plant which is a pretty fascinating site. It’s obvious that it has a tunnel which was built under the canal and its clean water stream forms the island of land between the canal and the river. We completed our towpath investigation up to the Millcreek aqueduct.
I have made it much further down the canal to date now being July 19, 2009. This is being documented in segments and I’m weeks in arrears bringing my findings to you...
1199-Alexander, Fitzwater, Hathaway, Stone, Warner and Granger Roads were named for the owners of the nearby farmlands. Stone Rd. constantly washed out and was elevated from the lowlands where it was then safe from the Cuyahoga. The Cuyahoga crossing at Stone Rd. was the Smith Truss design mimicking the bridge at Furnace Run. During the flood of 1913, the bridge at Furnace Run was moved off its foundations by the rushing water. The Cuyahoga was more intense and the relentless power of the Cuyahoga River washed out every bridge and aqueduct except for the better anchored and heavier railway bridges along the upper Cuyahoga in the steel mills.
1200-Tinkers Creek is named after Joseph Tinker, the principal boatman for Moses Cleveland's survey crew, who died in a boating accident on a return trip to New England. The steepness and rockiness of the Tinkers Creek's gorge, now part of the Metroparks' Bedford Reservation, made much of the land along the creek bed inaccessible for homes and farming, securing its preservation as a natural area. In 1968, the U.S. Park Service recognized these gorges as part of its Registered National Natural Landmarks.
1201- The proprietors of Mill Creek Flouring Company were the Rogers Bros.
1202-in response to 1201-The Cuyahoga County Mill Creek has no ties to the State run park in Mahoning County. The waters aren't connected or be one of the same. A long list of entrepreneurs operated the Mill Creek site near the Cuyahoga River. Some of the names were Pratt, Downing, Warner and Mueller. Miles away, the park was founded in 1891 due to the "untiring efforts of Youngstown attorney Volney Rogers" Rogers secured options on much of the land and was able to purchase large tracts of it. This was no small task given that he was compelled to deal with more than 90 landowner. Once the land was secured, Rogers framed and promoted what he called the "Township Park Improvement Law." Upon the law's passage, Rogers turned over all of the land he had secured for park purposes. Rogers had the area declared a park by the state legislature. It officially opened in 1893.
1203-Once again playing catch up on my re-walking and discovery of facts and the mechanics of the Ohio and Erie Canal, we set off from Millcreek aqueduct going south to Wilson Mills. This section covers miles 9 thru about 14 and on it we have some additions to the towpath by means of two great walk bridges. Warner Rd. and Granger Rd. have overhead spans built as suspension bridges to keep the towpath walker out of harm’s way at the busy intersections. The old trail is still in place for those who cannot peddle up the steep grade.
From just north of the new span at Granger Rd. all the way to Old Rockside Rd., the canal is without any locks and only one weir that has an opening positioned three feet above the water line and a small stream runs below it and the canal. The canal would have to rise substantially to make use of it. I feel that this new weir was placed in where an old one originally existed. This weir sits between Murray and Hienton Rds on the western side. Under the I-480 bridge marks a place where just across the canal the Cleveland Brick and Block Co. once sat. The old one room school house sits along the eastern side of the canal on this level near the brick company. This level along Canal Rd. goes from lock 40 to lock 39, a distance of 3 miles. During the canal era, the eastern and western sides of the canal were bustling with businesses. From what I understand, we had a couple of saloons that were pretty rowdy. That’s no surprise; the canal system was loaded with taverns and saloons.
Rockside Rd. marks the boundary line of the Canal Reservation. From Rockside Rd., we’ll be approaching lock 39 after by-passing Thornburg’s Corners as some may call it. Lock 39 is known as the 11 mile lock. Approaching this lock, one can’t help but notice the huge pieces of lumbar resting in the canal from the lock’s massive doors. The high end of the lock is boarded up to raise the canal’s depth and diverts the water to a sliding board-type tumble which is parallel to the lock. This lock still has the steel strapping and it’s clear to see the original courses of block stones have been replaced by concrete during the rebuilding phase in the early 20th century leaving the lower blocks for foundations.
An interesting thing lay just south of locks 39, and that’s a rather large waste weir. This weir has an opening of 60 feet and today is un-operational - its stream is blocked by the walking path. A sign at the weir gives a good explanation of how it was designed to keep the canal at a minimum of 4 feet in depth. If that be, the canal has a depth of 31/2 feet as of now with the water line being 6 inches below the opening. This level and its surroundings are very flat for a ways and the fields are still there that were formerly farmland. Part 1 of 3.
Part 2 of 3-Coming up on Stone Rd., it looks odd because we have a bridge that has its supports built dead smack in the middle of the canal. Now we know by that alone, the bridge was built after the canal era. That bridge is out of service now and has a construction date of 1950. Before the new span was built, the old dilapidated metal and wooden span rested across the canal since the time the canal failed in 1913. If you would walk the old road west from the bridge that would take you to an area named (South Park Village) also known as the Whittlesey Tradition or some spelling close to that. Back in along the Cuyahoga, some type of ancient tribes thrived in there a thousand years ago. Stone Rd. was elevated and probably seconded as a levee. The 38 and 39 level is pretty much un-eventful all the way to Hillside Rd but is swarmed with bicyclist. The canal took on a green eerie lock with a layer on top. Once at Hillside Rd., we’re at the location of the lock 38, museum that has the most physical and accurate description of what a lock and its millstream, home and lock tender’s quarters were actually like. Lock 38, is nearly perfect to gaze at for those who really want to get a feel for the canal era. Go inside and have a look at the miniature canal lock display and you’ll enjoy watching the mechanics of it as a boat passes through. Someone worked really hard making that. On this short exploration, I was accompanied by two great enthusiasts who made it fun.
Maybe a good mile further south we came up on Tinkers Creek, it once the home of the Tinker’s Creek Aqueduct at canal mile 13. Tinker’s Creek was named in honor of an associate of Moses Cleveland surveying the Ohio lands who lost his life. The span is gone today. At Tinkers Creek the canal water is transferred over the streambed through the use of a conduit, and just west of it and parallel is a new walk bridge resting on the original columns of the previous aqueduct. The original Tinker’s Creek Aqueduct was built down low right on the streambed. Its design had plenty of openings for the water to pass through and was made entirely of block stone. Time would prove it was a poor design. That structure failed constantly during the early years of the canal era by the rushing waters washing out the foundations on loose aggregate. The second design and was raised above the stream and built entirely of wood with less supporting columns thus lessening the chance of washing out. Its columns were placed deeper reaching solid ground. The wooden structure likes its neighboring aqueduct up north at Millcreek was under constant repair after a hard winter with its seams splitting from the freezing cold and the bottoms rotted out seasonally. Tinkers Creek was at least double in length of the Mill Creek span. The wooden span at Tinkers Creek was replaced in the early 20th century by a steel span and with a more streamlined supporting columns below and they bear witness to master craftsmanship by standing today. Steel I beams weren’t available until the late 19th century and when came available were used. The metal span had sluice gates built in to its walls as part of the structure that would spill its overflow into Tinkers Creek. A good example of how the sluice gates worked at Tinkers Creek can be found at Mill Creek.
Part 3 of 3-Lock 37, namely the 14 mile lock is located near Alexander Rd. Wilson Mills sets to its northeast by mere feet. Wilson Mills and lock 37 worked hand in hand and the whole entire area around the lock was a busy place in the canal era. Wilson Mills like its neighboring lock, lock 38, gives a great description how things worked around a millhouse. We have a mechanically operated weir on the canal at Wilson Mills and it along with the ability to control the spillway the millhouse could keep an adequate supply or discharge the water if need be. The original power plant was twin undershot water wheels that was replaced with turbines later on. The busted turbines and other associated parts are scattered all over.
Wilson Mills was the last of the flouring mills on the northern end that was situated directly on the canal. Heading south, the next flour mill was about 11 miles away at the Thomas and Moody Mills near lock 29 at the Peninsula Aqueduct. Soon Canal Rd. will end, turning into Valley View Rd. The real path of Canal Rd. turned and followed the canal and doubled as the towpath and remained on the western side of the canal for quite a ways. At the bend where the canal leaves valley View Rd., there seems to be a weir and a nearby stream coming from northeast that passes below the canal onto the Cuyahoga. I found the remains of an old road about a hundred and fifty yards south of Sagamore Rd. that crossed the canal and went off in a northwesterly direction and once crossed the Cuyahoga River. The Steven Frazee House sits right inside the confines of Cuyahoga County leaving Summit County on the opposite side of Canal Rd. It has an interesting past and there’s a lot to talk about concerning it, but I haven’t the time. One thing that stands out in my mind is that Frazee was in conflict with the state, eventually having to file legal action to be compensated for crop damage brought on by the canal because of occasional flooding. Frazee was farming about 20 years before the canal arrived without incident hazards or flooding.
I‘m slowly making my way south on the canal and we’ll be posting often. We have better than 290 miles to go.
1204- Did you know that Union Town tied to the Ohio Canal?
1204 to 1203- I stand in total disagreement when you mention the Moody Mill's in Peninsula is the next flour mill south of Wilson's Mill. Dah! Boston Mills cannot be discarded.
Settled in 1806, Boston stands as the oldest village in Summit County. The first mill was built in the village in the early 1820’s. Several years later, the construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal brought more people to Boston, and over the next few decades mills began to flourish in the area – most notably a paper mill. When a railroad station was constructed in the town in the early 1880s, the station was named "Boston Mills," in reference to the paper mill.
1206 A partial article from the Waverly news paper called the: News - Watchman.
Since waverly was known as Uniontown since 1829 and another Uniontown existed elsewhere in Ohio,a new name had to be chosen. At the suggestion of Chief Engineer, Francis Cleveland, who was reading Scott;s famous waverly novels, the name was changed to waverly.
1207-Living near Boston Mills, and I had always believed that a grist mill was operational in the Cuyahoga River. Across the river a millrace can be found. If you study the river you’ll find where the dam sat. The dam was removed when the canal went into service, at that time, the state systematically began closing all milling operation that weren’t situated on the canal and tore out all the dams built previously before the canal era that were backing up water that were not associated to the canal. The state took possession of the supply rivers. The state focused only on canal driven mills and sold them hydraulic power. To the northeast, two mills operated at Brandywine Creek Falls. Both mills were destroyed from rising waters. The 66 foot elevation rushed the water onto gigantic water wheels generating enormous power.
1208 Down here in Stark near the crossroads the Nimishillen has old mill foundations.
1209/Do you have anything which reflects on the later years of the canal system through Pike County and the decline of the canal and its reasoning?
1210-In the words of Jim Henry: After 1876, the canal started loosing its importance as during this year two railroads, the Scioto Valley and Springfield Jackson & Pomeroy started operations. Later these two become part of the Norfolk & Western and the Detroit & Toledo and Ironton system.
1211-I can't find anything that substantiates Waverly as Uniontown.
1212-Waverly had more than one unofficial name. The others were Union, Uniontown and Waverly City. None of them had a post office. The postal service arrived the same year the small town was given the name of Waverly.
1213- Hi. I have a canal expendature report for 1908 listing Fuaver & Reich as the rebuilders of lock 4 at Canal Fulton. That puzzles me some with the builders being someone else. Are these reports accurate?
1214-in regards to 1213. The assignment was given to the Daily Bros. after a meeting of the board of public works on May 29th, 1908. The contract was formerly given to Fauver & Renich.
1215-Who were the lock rebuilders at Dresden Junction?
1216
To 1215- That contract was given to the Clifton Bros on 11/27/1905. The cost: $13,899.73. My source for that information was the 1909 Board of Public Works report.
I believe there is a link to this report on Mr.Maximovichs site. It's on Google Books.--W.A.Seed
1217- Hello everyone, I have made my way to Roscoe Village by foot. I'm so far behind on my reporting to this site. It's time to put my footnotes together and get posting. This time out, by taking a slower approach to this exploration, it certainly opens ones eyes to what's around you. It also draws out other conclusions to prior information that I would have sworn by. At this juncture, I'm 135 miles in and have only reported as far as Red Jaite lock 34. I hope to list my findings soon. Hey Mr.Seed, I hope to be near Chillicothe later this month, are you up to a good hike?
1218-Part 1. Once again heading south, our next projected destination will be the town of Peninsula. This is a fairly interesting stretch of former canal that’s watered and you can see its current running along its shallow bottom. The canal doesn’t display any real depth back to its water supply at the Pinery Feeder. The Pinery is the very last feeder on the canal’s northern end today. During the days of the active canal, it was the most northern feeder then as well. The towpath stayed on the western banks of the canal all the way to the area of lock 36. Terrain difficulties and earthen slopes restricted the towpath between the canal bed and the winding Cuyahoga River. The high bridge above the lengthy dam slightly to the north of the inlet is Rt.82, known as Chippewa and Aurora Roads. This high bridge is an excellent vantage point to get a good look at the Pinery Narrows section of the canal system and how the feeder works. The water at the inlet is under the control of the O.D.N.R who regulates the amount entering the canal bed. I have recently uncovered some old pictures of the dam and feeder from a period of about 1880 and it’s not too similar to what’s there today. The feeder was a rather large block and concrete structure and the dam was block stone as well, spanning the narrows of the Cuyahoga River. The dam looked as if it mimicked the dam in Peninsula before it collapsed. Pinery Lock 36 doesn’t offer too much to look at these days and that’s were you have to piece together its puzzle and put your imagination to work. The lock is totally gone. There is a walk bridge that spans the connection point of the feeder stream where it met the mainline of the canal. In this area is where several block stones still exist that made up an erosion wall. It’s my opinion that is where the water makes a hard bend before it entered the canal. The distance from lock 37 was about five miles and the surrounding land was basically slopes filled by forest and the canal looks as if it was dug through loose aggregate in places. There were no signs that the towpath was on the eastern side of the canal for miles heading south. At the Pinery site we pretty much lost the canal bed and it’s hard to envision parts of it, but the feeder is wel-defined. We’ll pick up the canal bed again near Pine Hill Rd just south of the Rt.82 Bridge. Just across the river sits the Brecksville RR Station. About a half a mile from the high bridge we have a wide stream coming in from the west that connects to the Cuyahoga River. I’m at a loss for its name. From lock 36, we’re on an area with high slopes to the east with a mud catcher too. I have only seen one other mud catcher and it’s in Licking County. Above you is Scenic Point Drive to the east, a place where you can see the valley for miles in either direction. It’s easy to see just how close the canal and river can get to each other and a few minutes later the river is out of sight. The Cuyahoga River very much resembles the Missouri River by having miles of switchbacks. This makes me think about my investigation up north right below Brecksville Rd. where the river and the canal both have huge amounts of metal shoring driven into the earth making artificial embankments.
Part 2- The fellow who accompanied me along that section claims that they were put in place back in 1913 as part of the rebuilding of the canal after the flood. It only makes sense because the pumping station was active after the collapse of the canal and had to have enough water to pump into the mills. At the time of the flood, several businesses along the canal were dependant on canal water to survive. Those sections were targeted for immediate repair. At the time just after the flood, Summit Lake was reduced in size. The only areas holding water there were the deeper pools. The state and local municipalities and Canal Commission worked hand in hand to refill Summit Lake which sat in direct line of the canal as their highest priority. At the same time to fix both ends of the Portage Summit to hold water so industry could resume operations. The fear of a dreadful reprisal at Summit Lake could reappear as it did in the past with its shoreline and lake bottom being exposed with deadly consequences. Back in 1826 when the canal was being built, the lake was lowered and its exposed shoreline caused disease and sickness of monumental proportions. The state wanted to avoid that from reoccurring. The Portage Lakes were next in line for repairs after the canal was restored to running. Up until that point, the Tuscarawas River was dammed and all the water was aimed at Summit Lake to rapidly refill it. For several months, the Tuscarawas River was completely dry all the way to Clinton because all of its water went to the north. At Clinton, Chippewa Creek was the only water heading south where it meets the confluence of the Tuscarawas. The breaks at Long Lake were left alone for the time being and dumped river water into the canal. They were fixed later on when Summit Lake was refilled. Lock 1 and its counterpart due south of it were the only locks that underwent a quick and secure rebuilding just after the big storm with only a sluice gate built to its southern end at Barberton. Wolf Creek lock 1 was destroyed during the flood and left was only a few meager block stones scattered about as a reminder that a lock was once there. I was told by a reliable Barberton historian that the same fate that lock 1 in Akron succumbed to happened in Barberton as well, by having the lock blown up to relieve the ongoing pressure as Barberton was below water as well. By blowing the lock, the canal rejoined the Tuscarawas River, which lowered the water by several feet immediately in town. I sort of got off on a tangent. We will get back to my exploration up north. Back on the canal walk we’re coming up on the Kettlewell Whiskey Lock number 35. There are many stories about this lock and its name it’s hard to really know the facts. Before we get to that, the layout of the surrounding land gives away that perhaps a basin once lay to its west and directly parallel to the lock chamber. The Kettlewell lock was well known for its distilleries and making of moonshine whiskey off in the woods in the area in close proximity to the canal. Back then, they had a couple of make shift mercantile stores near the lock. It’s said that they more or less resembled an old outpost with people sitting around haggard looking, chewing tobacco, drinking and swearing with fur trappings hanging about. From what I understand, its whiskey making was a well known enterprise that lasted into the prohibition period and then some. One of the biggest prostitution stops and taverns outfits between Akron and Cleveland set there just off the canal buried in the trees to its north. Miraculously the boat crews scurried through the woods and could navigate its location on the darkest nights even being in a deep holler....This type of action wasn’t too uncommon, all up and down the canal they had these little enterprises just far enough off of canal owned land so they didn’t have to pay for prime real-estate.
Part 3- Those are just stories; they cannot be verified and were passed down to me by mouth or hearsay. Even yet, here and there, stories and pictures still arrive by mail. From the looks of things, this was a medium to shallow lock at number 35 north, I could be wrong about that, but I estimate its depth about 7 to 8 feet.. The tumble or the spillway ran to the east and rejoined the canal just below its lower gates. I haven’t found any evidence that a mill set there. One hundred and twenty feet north of the chamber may have been where the boats entered a basin on the opposite or western side of the canal. Looking around, I felt that was a basin, looking back now, it was actually Gooseneck Pond. This area was very busy, and was pretty much out in the middle of no-where. Another storyteller tells how every once in a while a killing happened here or closes by. A war raged between several of the whiskey makers back in those hills. It wasn’t too uncommon for a body or two to show up floating down the canal with trash and just about anything else that could float. The towpath is still on the western side of the canal bed at canal mile18. The eastern side has steep hills and dense forest in places where in comparison to the low ground where the canal was situated. It was easier to run the canal close to rivers than to cross the countryside having to dig into hard packed soil rather than softer river lands. Because of that alone, the northern end of the canal was completed years ahead of the rest of the system because it basically stayed close to rivers and loose pack... A good comparison would be that a section of the canal dug from Frazeysburg lock 17 along Canal Rd. would have taken much longer than a section that runs parallel to the Big Cuyahoga River. The entire canal bed wasn’t lined by clay either, because it wasn’t necessary to do so. The clay was used more in loose soil conditions where the threat of the water soaking in to the ground could be a problem. The silt and muck from the rivers eventually became a sealant to the canal bed. Back to canal business we’re making our way towards our destination for the day ending at Peninsula somewhere in the area of 11 or so miles. This section of the canal runs next to a river that reassembles a serpent as we are going south. The river has plenty of small islands out in the middle; they are usually in its tight bends. Red Jaite lock 34 will be our next target site on our way to Peninsula. On the way there we passed over a few wooden cross over bridges and what may have been a couple of weirs one being Goose Pond as previously mentioned. There is an old trail head named Old Carriage Trail that zig zags through the hillside. I would estimate the distance from lock 35 to 34 to be no more than 2 miles. Once at the site of Red Lock 34 you’ll find it perched up on a grassy hillside. Looking inside the chamber is filled with water
Part 4- The towpath is the division of W.Highland Rd. from Vaughn Rd. This lock has an interesting past, like its neighboring lock to the north, Kettlewell Whiskey Lock it was quite the busy place with a make shift shantytown with a couple of taverns operating nearby and a distillery was at the edge of the state owned property just beyond it in the woods. By staying off canal land the privateers stayed away from paying rent as I mentioned earlier. From what I understand is there was quite the beaten path leading away from the locks going into the brush here as well. In or about the time of the Civil War the legal distilleries on the Ohio and Erie Canal were running at full capacity turning out alcohol and whiskey for the war effort and stemming from that there were shortages; whiskey became scarce to the general public. It was then that the dirty backwoods stills went into overdrive and many of them turned out rot gut whiskey that poisoned people killing many. This was happening so often that the state began searching them out and made an attempt to close them down. That met with a lot of resistance and no-one was too interested in cooperating with the law. Most of the peace officers and sheriffs were part of the system and they had no interest at all in loosing that income. Red Lock 34 was a good place to distribute counterfeit money called Red Notes. I wander if there could be a connection with the locks name. Close by was the Jaite Paper Mill Located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, this abandoned mill was constructed in 1906 and used the nearby Ohio & Erie Canal as a reservoir. Between 1926 and 1927, the mill was remodeled to accommodate an overhead crane and a fourdrinier machine to allow production of a continuous web of paper. As many as 250 workers were employed at Jaite, producing up to 8 tons of paper daily. Like the canal, the Jaite Paper Mill felt the effects of competition beyond its control and closed in 1984. It also had a large fire which helped with the closing.
The next destination will be the area of the Thomas and Moody Mill at the Peninsula aqueduct at lock 29. But before we get to it we have a couple of sites to pass by. Just beyond Vaughn Rd. we’ll soon pass over what’s left of the Brandywine Creek Culvert as we’re moving south. With five lock sites to go before ending up in Peninsula that gives plenty too talk about.
Posting 1198-has a date of Saturday the 15th of June, it was the 13th.
1219 -It seems as if you're enjoying this new episode covering the canal again. Not that I wish to spoil your adventure and I certainly enjoy the information but, I liked the format of your book and the storyline and its adventures as you went. How about some one on one stuff with the people you've met and give it a little kick.
1220-From Jeff Maximovich / Canalwayman: Yesterday in a group discussion about the canal and where it went thru Tuscarawas County I was the subject of ridicule. I had a couple of guys laughing and making fun of my so called findings in an area they claimed to know so well being brought up in that area. A couple of them now in their 70s claimed to know every square inch of the county and I'm full of myself and I’m highly inaccurate. I found it disturbing as they laughed and mumbled under the breath. Now the next day, they were suppose to rendezvous with me this morning and I was going to verify my findings in the Zoar area. Guess what, no-one showed up except for me and now it's nearly 10: am. After waiting two hours it was apparent they didn't want to really know the facts. So hears to you John and your buddies who are so smart about the history of Tuscarawas County, you really missed out on some free education.
1221-Mr. Maximovich I wouldn't be too upset about that. You're in the public eye and there will always be discontent concerning findings in others familiar territory. That makes them feel incompetent whoever they may be for not having discovered the subject matter on their own.
Would you please list the technical information about each lock site as you get to them?
1222 -Would you care to share the nature of the dispute that stands between you and some Tuscarawas County individuals?
If I were given an opportunity to clear up some facts or be corrected, showing up would be the thing to do!!
1223- The debate looms around the canal that's on the opposite side of the Tuscarawas River on the former Society of the Separatist lands. My claim is that the guard lock was indeed a lift lock instead. Its position is directly parallel to the dam that is partially there today and the dam is position dead center of the chamber if one was to draw a line connecting the two. Just to the northeast lies a rather large lake up near the arboretum and it seems as if the waters from it had a spillway once and it may have connected to the canal that's in the lower woods that ends at the Dover Zoar Rd. NE. My theory is that a basin was above and below the lock on the Separatist land. Back in there is a weir and a connection to a stream leading back into the river. I made the claim that old abutments still exist which are inline with the pillars standing in the river to the south of the dam. I claimed that a gigantic marker rest near the weir with a name of McCraig dated around 1898. So here it is, I put it out there anyone can go and check it out for themselves. These fellows have played and hunted that area around Old Rt. 82 and the Fauver Bridge their whole lives they claim. I claim they come home empty handed because they were blind.
1224 - To Jeff Maximovich. I do apologize for standing you up the other morning. To be quite honest, I wasn't sure the plans were cut into stone as we departed. Today we took advantage of the beautiful day and went to Zoar and researched the region which was non affiliated with the Ohio and Erie Canal and it was exactly as you claimed it to be. There is a fully watered canal with the prism dementions matching the standard canals as we know them. What the huge marker stands for no-one knows for sure dated 1898. Nice work on your behalf and I do want to aplogize for the rudiness of the company we were in the other evening.
John.
1225- For anyone to reply too. Which of the locks up north are built by the state forces rather than private contractors? Who were the contractors responsible for the awful job at locks 24 & 25 N?
1226- Canalwayman knower of all, look into your crystal ball and tell me where the Sand Run Aqueduct was positioned.
1227-I hate to intervene is business that's directed elsewhere but J.Gieck's canal bible page 292 has no such listing of the Sand Run Aqueduct. Only three such spans existed on the northern slope, they were, Peninsula, Tinkers Creek and finally the Millcreek site.
1228-There was apparently five aqueducts from Akron to Cleveland. The two that were not listed in canalbiker’s lineup are none other than the Sand Run Aqueduct and the Furnace Run Aqueduct. I have found Furnace Run Aqueduct listed differently with its listing being a culvert as well. According to the canal reports of the Northern Division Ohio Canal provided by the Board of Public Works with Mr. J.A.Hanlin as acting Engineer then, it certainly states we had an aqueduct over Sand Run Creek. Any remains of it can only be found by investigating the general area where the creek runs below Riverview Rd. through a substantial tunnel. If you are standing on Riverview Rd. and where the creek passes below it, you’ll notice where a supporting structure is holding up the mainline sewer trunk which was the exact location of where the former aqueduct once sat. This site is a few hundred yards south of Smith Rd. on the opposite side of Riverview Rd. Don’t be confused by the opening below the sewer trunk at Smith Rd. - that’s not it, that was an access opening. Bear in mind that the sewer trunk was placed in the canal bed after lock 21 and continued to just past lock 23 ending at the sewage plant before Ira Rd.. Its construction dates were1922 and it was completed in 1926 by a Massachusetts-based company I struggled for that information of who the builders were, and through the hard work of a certain individual working the downtown branch of the Akron Public Library he found me the answer.
To 1226 & 1228
Regarding the Sand Run Aqueduct. This structure does appear on ODNR plat 22 at station 1555 as a 20' concrete aqueduct. A review of the 1909 BPW report shows that McGarry & McGowan (the same contractors that re- built Locks 22 thru 27N)were awarded the contract for rebuilding this small aqueduct in Feb.1905 for $2100.00. If it's quality of construction were similar to the remaining locks they'd re-built I'm certain that Riverview Road would have collapsed by now if any part of it had been re-used.---W.A.Seed
1229-I have took notice that many of the executive documents pertaining the expendatures for permanent improvement of the Ohio and Erie Canal, are out of sequence. I have stumbled upon something that's never been addressed here on this site; as follows: name the overall difference between a waste way and a waste weir?
1230-A waste weir and waste way are one in the same. Its job is to sit there and automatically govern depth. On our canal we had standard depth and high water waste ways in various places. Basically waste ways were the common language although we have a weir listed at the Brecksville Feeder. Just so we know, the Pinery Feeder was better known as the Brecksville Feeder.
1231-By comparison sluice gates are more prevalent than waste ways. The lock tenders job was to man the sluice gates in his proximity. Mainly a sluice gate was normally in a closed position until rising waters in the canal prism placed demands on them to be then opened. Without sluice gates the canal would have failed causing destruction to nearby farms and fields. It would be my own feelings that sluice gates were added into the system according to their demands. Sluice gates left unattended had disastrous effects when the river water entered the canal.
1232-1232-The sluice gates were manned by the lock tenders as a general rule. But more than likely, the boatsmen and their crew knew much better as to the canal's current water level. It would think that it was a normal procedure to regulate the sluice gates by the boat crew .
1233-A weir re-directs the water where a waste way gets rid of it.
1234- The Brecksville Feeder was a unique situation to where a weir and waste way worked simultaneously together. After the water passed the head gates of the Cuyahoga River situated slightly upstream from the dam it made its way to the connection point where it met the canal. At the place, the water had to be slowed and this was done by the use of a weir. The weir at the Brecksville Feeder had an adjoining waste way which purpose was to remove the excess water and place it below the dam back into the Cuyahoga as the remainder flowed to the north in the canal.
1235 to 1234-I have a few questions about the Brecksville Feeder, by the way, we better know as the Pinery Feeder. Which of the two, either the weir or the waste way sat higher? At what place at lock 36 was the connection point with the feeder, above or below the lift lock?
1236-
To 1225- lock 31N "Lonesome" was re-built by State forces at a cost of approx $2900.00 in 1908. Locks 24 & 25N were rebuilt by McGarry & McGowan in 1905. The remaining western chamber walls of each would indicate that the state didn't get good value for their dollars on either of those structures.Sort of looks like these contractors incorporated creek stone as filler into the concrete.
To Mr.Maximovich- Check your e-mail if you're interested in doing some canawling later this month.
For what it's worth, I'm kinda interested in a more polite way as to where Sand Run Aqueduct is too.-- W.A.Seed
1237 to 1235-The weir sat lower than a waste way by design. The waste way worked when an unwanted amount of water entered the canal by automatically discharging it. A sluice gate could be used for many purposes. Some of them are, to control the amount water passing a water wheel, to relieve pressure or to measure the amount of water passing over an aqueduct’s spillway. There are countless uses of sluice gates. On the Ohio and Erie Canal, we have dozens of them that when in use, primarily spilled directly back into an adjacent river as part of water control maintenance in the canal. By design, every lock which was equipped with a tumble fall or a spillway had a weir. Weirs were more than likely used for internal movement of the canal by keeping its water moving from level to level without loosing any water to the rivers. A waste way had a specific job and it was removal of the water that exceeds a normal level. I can think of a few locations where a good example of a working weir would be located that managed the water rather than loosing it. Locks 24 and 25, the Niles and Mudcatcher Locks, had a weir between the two that spilled back into a race that ran parallel to the canal to its west. Another would be just north of the Mustill Lock 15 where a weir still there reconnected overflow to the Little Cuyahoga Feeder which re-entered the canal below lock 16 on the staircase. The Schumacher Mills (formerly Aetna Mills) had a spillway and a weir on the north end of its basin. The weir is still present today, located below the North St. Bridge between locks 14 and 15. This weir re-entered the canal and the waste way just east of it ran through an underground conduit spilling into the Little Cuyahoga just east of the Mustill Store. That tunnel is still there today and can be found just southwest of the intersection of Cuyahoga and Howard Streets.
1238 Deep Lock 28, Johnny Cake 27, and Pancake 26 with its weir a hundred yards south of the chamber had weirs un-connected to the lock chamber.
Canal Historian - weirs and flooding said...
1239 to 1238-In one way or the other the weirs were connected to a lock as a whole system in itself. Zoar has several of its locks with sizable weirs at lock positions 7 through 9. An interesting point to bring up, a weir on a general scale sat only a mere 2 inches below the depth of the average waste weir. Sluice doors were introduced in numbers when it was apparent the waste weirs weren’t enough to rid off the excess water. In various places demonstrated even now, years after the canal has closed we can get a good example of the flooding process in action where the canal runs close to the same elevation as the Tuscarawas River. In these places the canal and river join to another as the water backflows through the stationary waste ways.
Anonymous said...
1240-I think more than 6 inches separated a standard waste way and a weir in hieght.
August 11, 2009 9:37 AM
Canal Historian - water over the weir said...
1241-a six inch difference would have disastrous result on the canal system by destroying everything. Six inches of water rushing over a tumble might as well be Niagara Falls. Two inches was the desired indifference the planners had in mind.
August 11, 2009 10:09 AM
1242--I have a bill of lading dated August 4 1908 to a canal boat named the Storm to move 400 barrels of an Akron product named, White Rock Export Beer. This was to be loaded at the Akron basin and transported to the Herring Shipping Company of Cleveland Ohio by canal. The boat captain was named Captain Jack.
1243-1242 The (Canal boat Storm) was still in service then in 1908. The years from 04 to 08 would have raised flags to its validity for any boat to make passage from Akron to Cleveland for an obvious reason. During that period the Ohio canal was undergoing a much needed rehabilitation process and for it alone the canal was inoperable. Akron had a main brewery in that time frame making a product of that name. The upper basin was a loading point and Hecking and Demarrin had its shipping docks at many points.
1244- I couldn't imagine a canal boat was even capable of handling the sum of 100 barrels alone rather than four times that many at a roughly estimated weight of 340 lbs per barrel and considerably more if a 55 gallon barrel was in use.
1245-A 31 gallon barrel was considerably less in weight (240)lbs.
1246- Who knows the actual weight of a barrel of beer? I really don't feel as if its weight was the real issue here. The issue centers around how many barrels would fit. Looking at the layout of a canal freighter, it's possible to load quite a few barrels on board. Who's to say that another boat wasn't working along with it in tandem?
1247-Sheep played an important role during canal construction, what was it?
To 1242 & 1243
An examination of the 1909 BPW report (pages 70,71,&72) show that virtually all of the refurbishment contracts from the Cleveland terminus down to Akrons lock 1-N were initiated prior to August 1st 1906. Those started after that date were for sluices & weirs. I'll assume the route was ok for traffic in 1908.
That fact aside, I'd think that 400 barrels of any liquid would have caused a canal boat to scrape bottom. The contract must have been for multiple trips or boats.-- W.A.Seed
1249-Sheep weren't used for personal gratification if that's what you have in mind as the old joke may go. A process called puddling was often used to pack clay into the loose soil to prevent the canal from becoming ground water. Sheep farming was popular in the Stark County area and the owners were contracted to pack in the clay by running their heard back and forth packing it in.
1250-There was so much fighting and bickering along the Tuscarawas River over who controlled the dams the government had to step in. The MWCD operated the dams for just a year. In 1939, Congress passed the Flood Control Act, which gave control of the dams to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The lake behind Dover Dam began to fill up in 1940, but corps officials soon discovered that industrial waste from a chemical company in Barberton was polluting it. In 1941, officials decided to make it a dry dam and let the river flow through it until the weather dictated otherwise.
1251-The Army Corp of Engineers built the dam, why hadn't they had control over its operation from its start?
1252-The dam, built by the Bates and Rogers Construction Co. of Chicago, was the only one in the district constructed completely of concrete. (Earlier that decade, Bates & Rogers was involved in the construction of Cleveland’s Union Terminal and the Terminal Tower skyscraper, at the time the tallest building between New York and Chicago.)
1253-I wish to start by saying we as a family watch this site continuously. A couple of years ago, you went into great detail about an area above the Tuscarawas Valley situated as a vantage point to oversee the two villages of Schoenbrun and Gnadenhutten. This place as you called it was named Morning Star. We set out to find such a place and as you claimed it was up there. We spent the evening up on the high place and as the evening fell both of the villages could be spotted with their glowing lights. That's not the reasoning for this blog, the reasoning comes from some information my teenage daughter has found. Reading a book on Indian myth and legend she found a passage where the Indians native to Stark and Tuscarawas Counties often visited a high place called "Sanseeray" which in Indian dialect means "Morning Star". This was a place where lookouts were posted and the river could be seen further than its great bends heading towards the sun. The sun would be west and the river comes from the west near New Philadelphia and leads out to the west at Gnadenhutten. Keep up the good work and continue to post on your newest adventures.
1254-We stopped at the Dairy Queen in Bolivar Ohio and were impressed by the canal locks identification map there on display. How can we get one?
1255-I received a letter back in March of 2009 from the son of a Tuscarawas County man who's father is one hundred years old. His father born in 1909 never left Tuscarawas County and lived on Rt. 36 his entire life. The son who was fascinated with the work I had done by locating every lock on the system showed his father how to navigate the computer to see them. It wasn't too long before his father relayed to his son to contact me about the Port Washington/Bremmer Lock number 18 because it was removed back in the mid twenties and the blocks where used for foundations elsewhere. The lock that I have identified as 18 is actually number 19. What I previously found and claimed as 19 was more than likely a waste way leading back to the Tuscarawas. I have a construction map from the 1970s when the 36 hill was built at the same time I-77 was being done which show a canal structure where I thought lock 19 was located.
Anyhow even with the hot and humid temperatures today Sunday the 16th of August 2009 we met this morning at his home in Port Washington. He was in good spirits and laughed when he said he was too brittle to accompany me any further than the truck. We drove a short distance and directly across from Maxine’s Crafts and Gifts in Port Washington next to where a culvert connected to the canal he pointed and said the lock was right there. I went in and found proof that a lift lock was there once. He produced a picture from the turn of the century going into the 20th of a canal boat leaving the lock and his home was in the picture down just the road. I stand corrected about the position of both locks 18 and 19 of Port Washington. Lock 19 is still there where I claimed 18 is located now. The strange thing about that site is that I thought it may have been a lock site years ago searching for it. By studying the adjacent road once named Canal Rd. it has a sudden drop in elevation in its area. That’s usually a good sign to go by when trying to find a missing lock. These corrections will be made someday soon. Part 1
1255-Part 2-He knew the region well and pointed out a few other facts as we headed west on Rt.36. As we passed by I-77 and were appropriating Rt. 258 he pointed out where lock 20 once sat, it was more to the east of 258 more or less the road was built directly overtop and to the east was a small stream and a culvert. The gentleman told me that he believes the Hilton Dam that I have listed in New Philly was miles from there way out 36 closer to Coshocton. As we headed west he pointed out where the locks were and lock 24 was where I claimed, thank goodness for that, and the lock at Unusual Junction was correct as well, that being lock 25. Moving west on 36, he said to turn around and head east because he lost his bearings and we went back and forth on 36 for quite some time. He was getting mixed up some and his son wanted to take him back home. You could see he was tiring out, but persistent as heck. On our fifth pass at Rt. 36 he said pull over the dam is down there. I have to tell you, I went down there and the canal bed was in perfect condition and out of know where was the foundations of a millhouse and the remains of a dam was spanning the river. The rebar irons are with an abutment and huge busted chunks of concrete are downstream everywhere. There is no-doubt than a dam was down there spanning the Tuscarawas and it’s probably the Hilton Dam. That’s open for debate if someone wishes to dig into it. All-in-all today was a fantastic and revealing day along the old towpath of the Ohio and Erie Canal. I apologize to my readers for being so behind on my findings up north as I work my way south. I promise to post soon and begin catching up.
1256 Canalwayman to come forth and admit an error on your behalf shows integrity!
1257 The Hilton Dam was built across the Tuscarawas River at Frye's Creek Road at canal mile 108 on Old Route 8, later to be known as Sr.416
1258 to 1255--The lock in Port Washington was still intact in the nineteen sixties. Its blocks were gathered up after its removal when Canal Road was replaced with hiway 36. Canal Road was south of the canal bed and ran directly next to the railroad. Parts of Canal Road are still present west of i,77 coming from under the expressway and leads out infront of the Duchess (Duke) station and McDonalds. The old guy must have had his time frame confused because I have pictures of the lock in 68. The location is acurate.
259-Hello Jeff did you happen to see a platic bag tied to a tree at Bremmer Lock 18 as you spell it? Just for the sake of accuracy, the correct spelling is (BREMER)This bag was a claimer left by a fellow researcher who noted the site was accounted for.
260- I just posted in 259 in regards to the Bremer Lock. A fair question would be, if the Hilton Dam spanned the Tusc. at Fries Creek what was its purpose? Was it a feeder dam or a mill dam? If that is in deed the Hilton Dam, then explain the other dam that Canalway man stumbled onto yesterday with the help of the elder gentlemen, does it have a name?
Canalwayman, please go into detail about this dam and how to find it.
261-In the early part of the 20th century, the Ohio and Erie Canal Commission and the state house took the northern end and rebuilt its locks, weirs, bridges, aqueducts, culverts and renovated the canal bed, its banks, towpath, etc. This endeavor covered roughly half the total distance of the canal system - about 150 miles of 308. The southern end was excluded from this project and was laid to rest. The “new” Ohio and Erie Canal was to operate from Cleveland to Dresden Junction by use of about 75 lift locks and dozens of weirs, several feeders and a few aqueducts. For some reason, several locks were left as they were and had gone on to the end without a face lift. These were the structures from the Lock Seventeen area near Gnadenhutten all the way across the state, bypassing locks 18 east of Newcomerstown, all the locks out on Rts.36 and 16W, bypassing the 3 locks 28, 29 and 30 at Adam’s Mills and the connection at the Dresden Side Cut at the mainline of the Ohio and Erie Canal system. The lock’s 31,32 and 33 at the Muskingum connection were rebuilt. The locks and structures that were left alone were from mile 105 to mile 150, making it about 1/3 of the northern end that was left as is.
262-I’m having a problem with the location of the Hilton Dam. The canal reports show a purchase of the Hilton Farm and addressed the Hilton Dam South there. I wish that I knew where that farm was at. It’s strange that we have a Hilton Dam South which makes the mind wonder if another existed elsewhere. I have unique pictures passed down by the Daley family at my disposal. I studied the Hilton Dam Project in depth and it takes me straight back to the dam at Mill St. in New Philadelphia, where a picture-perfect exact copy still remains near Mill St. in New Philadelphia. I am going to stick to my findings, calling the dam in New Philly the Hilton Dam going on the information given to me by the Daley’s. I ‘m open for correction if someone finds out differently that the Hilton Dam was elsewhere.
263-Yesterday morning despite the fact that I have a heavy work schedule building engines, I got up already prepared to go, and shot back down to the dam site in Coshocton County I visited yesterday. Yesterday my time was limited to only a few minutes of research. This time, I was able to look around without any outside pressure and leisurely went at my own pace. The water was running slow and was no more than inches deep on this wide span so I set out across trying to make a toe to heel measurement but was unable to with the slippery rocks. I estimate the river at about 400 feet or more from bank to bank. This place is a natural set of rapids with natural stone walls on each bank an ideal place to place a dam, there is an awful lot of construction material in the form of an old aggregate style mix, the same type used long ago all over. Spanning the river I stumbled onto some steel re-enforcement rods sticking out of the water. That alone makes me feel that this was rebuilt in the late 19th or the early 20th century. I have an old post card with a picture of the Tuscarawas Dam and Mill and I tried to identify anything familiar between the card and where I was and came up short. The millhouse was on the opposite side on the postcard.
My next destination was to backtrack a good thirty miles or so and head over to the area of the Fry’s Creek Culvert on Rt. 416 between locks 16 and 17 on the southern slope of the Portage Summit. It’s obvious to see that a dam spanned the river there as well. This site has strong similarities to the dam site near Coshocton by having such a long span. Why a dam was there I have no clue, I hope someone has the answers. The water was slightly faster there and deeper, no more than waste deep at its deepest so I ventured out and easily made it across, but was tied off so I didn’t get washed down to far. If for some reason I fell and bumped my head and got caught in the current my body would be found connected to a long rope. On my way across, I could easily see the bottom and there was many block stones still in place and still in order. There is no-way that is the Hilton Dam because it was rebuilt using concrete. The picturesque post card didn’t match this sight either.
I went further north into New Philadelphia and using the picture I had of the Daley Brothers working on the Hilton Dam I wasn’t too surprised when it was a match, but the old post card had me wanting to know where it was taken. By the end of the day the postcard hit pay-dirt when it matched the area of the millhouse and dam in Zoar. There are several wide water places along the Tuscarawas and the Scioto where the water is shallow enough to cross and theses places have remnants of former dams whether they were used for a canal feeder or not, they are still there if you go looking.
1264-Hey Canalwayman did you find something out of the ordinary at lock 18 S.at Port Washington?
1265-To answer 1264, posting 1259 tells of the plastic bag placed at the lock site tied to a tree. Besides that, if there was something else, well I missed it.
1266-It would be clearly indicated that perhaps two dams existed on the Hilton section of Tuscarawas County. Canalwayman, I feel as if your location as you indicated the Hilton Dam was near the Mill Sreet Bridge is wrong. Sorry! That dam was constructed by the Daley bros. as you indicated so the river was navigable from the Baker Dam to New Philadelphia where it connected to the Later canal's eastern end above the guard lock.
Although there is nothing which names any of the other two dam's as the Hilton Dam either. To access Stillwater Creek there would have to have been a third dam further down the river, perhaps the water was backed up nears Fry's Culvert where you claim another dam once spanned the river.
(Tuscarawas County History)
This name was selected to celebrate the rich pioneering and canal heritage of the property. Warwick Township and
more specifically the area between Trenton (now Village of Tuscarawas) and the Hilton Tract was the scene of some
of the earliest white settlement attempts in the Tuscarawas Valley. The first settlers arrived in that area in 1801 and
the first child was born in 1802. The town of Trenton was laid out in 1816. Although there is some indication that
the early name of the village was Tuscarawas, a petition was circulated and the name was changed to Trenton shortly
after its founding.
By 1812 John Blickensderfer had built a dam and grist mill on Mud run near the north edge of the village but by
1820 had moved his mill to the Tuscarawas River in what is now the Hilton Tract. The dam and grist mill were
completely rebuilt by Minnich and Walton in 1844 and by 1884 was owned and operated by Greenbury Hilton. The
State of Ohio acquired the dam in 1908 to provide water to the canal and is what many older residents of the area
refer to as the old state dam. The dam was removed by explosives – probably in the 1920s.
The name Trenton also celebrates the Trenton Feeder which provided water to the Ohio & Erie Canal at the
southern end of Lock #16. The Trenton Feeder was one of only ten such feeder canals along the 308 miles of the
Ohio & Erie Canal and was one of only two wide enough to be navigable to canal boats. A dam built by the state in
the early 1830’s (not the “state dam” referred to in local folklore) provided water to the Trenton Feeder at Bass
Island located in the Tuscarawas River on the eastern boundary of the Hilton Tract. The dam also provided the
means for canal boats to cross the Tuscarawas River and enter Big Stillwater Creek thus serving the communities of
Eastport and Uhrichsville. Remnants o the original state dam and Trenton Feeder Guard Lock are located on Bass
Island and within the Hilton Tract.
One could easily argue that the Ohio & Erie Canal, by way of the Trenton Feeder, is responsible for the growth and
development of the City of Uhrichsville. Uhrichsville became a major grain shipping port providing an outlet for
farmers in much of Tuscarawas, Harrison, and Carroll Counties. Merchants shipped grain and flour to Clevelend
and New York City through this network and at the height of this shipping boom as many as five large warehouses
were located in Uhrichsville as well as a fleet of canal boats.
Finally, the Hilton Tract provided access to the Bass Island (also referred to as Blue Bell Island) Resort. This was a
small family-run amusement park that existed on the island (owned by the Edie family) from the late 1800’s to
sometime after the 1913 flood. Regular excursions were run from Uhrichsville to the island on board a double
decker steamboat owned by the family.
The Hilton Tract and the surrounding area have been part of the history of Tuscarawas County for over 200 years.
Given the historical and archaeological significance of the area, the office name of Trenton Heritage Park was
selected to celebrate and preserve its history.
An inventory of this property will be completed this summer. Access is currently restricted by permit only.
1267-Last evening, I went over all of my notes from my Trenton exploration and compared them with what’s listed in posting 1266. There are similarities and that posting answered some questions that I still had. According to the executive canal reports, there was a Hilton Dam South and I'll take that to be as the State Dam at the Trenton Feeder number 2. I say 2 because the old state dam would have been the first of the 2 Trenton Feeders. Trenton Feeder 1 sat between the bridge at Tuscarawas Rd.SE and Sharon Dr.SE with its inlet off the river just east of the Village of Tuscarawas. My notes from October 2005 read as follows, “ I find this area at the bottom of Sharon Dr. to be very confusing near the river because we have another section of an apparent canal which lead out towards the river." A section of canal shot off due east for maybe a hundred yards then was filled in by a soybean field. I spent hours in the area and came to the conclusion that another dam sat along the river. I ended up speaking with an old timer that knew some about the area who relayed to me that the old state dam was blown up when he was just a young boy and it was right over there as he pointed barely northeast from his home on School St.NE that sat on the eastern side of the village close to the river. It would be my feelings that the older of the two state dams had no further use and was blown up sometime after the newer of the 2. When the state dam became operational located at River Bottom Rd. to the north, we’ll call it number 2,. I would doubt if the older state dam would have been rebuilt in 1908, with a new dam and feeder. The dam that was built is listed as the Hilton Dam South, built by the Daley Bros. of Bolivar, Ohio. If that is the Hilton Dam S. - where’s the Hilton Dam N? I still hold a picture of a much shorter dam built by the Daley Bros in New Philadelphia near Mill St. Could this be the Hilton Dam N? There are no other dams between these two points. I find some of the information very questionable in posting 1266, one being a lock and dam on an island to enter Stillwater Creek. I spent a solid month in the area along the Tuscarawas River that includes exploring several islands. I also walked the entire length of Stillwater Creek looking for anything that stands out. I was going back on the towpath this weekend but that has changed, a couple of us are heading back down into Trenton to re-explore the Mud Run Culvert on the feeder that I claim to have I beam supports and take a fellow researcher to the site of the lift lock on the feeder. I know that some of you have never located this lock. You’re welcome to come. Email me @ canalwayman@yahoo.com and come along.
1268-Hi canalwayman-We live here in Canton and watch this site often. Last year you had made mention of what might have been a black bear in Sandyville. Last week the Canton Repository ran an article which gives a detailed story about an accident involving a bear and their numbers hear in Ohio.
1269- I didn't want to push it very fact that I stumbled across a fairly good size black bear. There are some who never have these experiences as I have. Still again I put myself out there on a regular basis. The Canton Repository ran the article about a young man who while traveling near Marlboro Township hit a fairly good size bear. The wildlife authorities estimate that perhaps as many as 200 may exist hear in northern Ohio. When I seen the bear in Sandyville and reported it, I was told that lately there was several sightings and be careful to stay clear of it.
1270--The canal Boat "Mercer" was owned and operated by Howard Cole a landowner and farmer who hailed from Canal Fulton.
1271-As a canal researcher I'm really suprised that listing 1266 went without any doubt of the quality of its information. There is no-Bass island but a Moose Island instead. Whoever listed has several things confused, for instance they have the Ohio & Erie Listed with only ten feeders and the number would be closer to 18 - 20. ("Wow" canalwayman, how did you ever let that slip by ?) Bluebell Island was the lower end of New Philly separated by the lateral.
1272- I read the posting at number 1266 and concluded that whoever it may be should try a course in the history of the Ohio and Erie Canal before putting down such innacurate imformation. After a good and thorough investigation of 1266 would lead one to believe they have a slight education on the subject matter and their imformation has many loop holes and in most part is incomclusive
Their words as follows:"The Trenton Feeder was one of only ten such feeder canals along the 308 miles of the
Ohio & Erie Canal and was one of only two wide enough to be navigable to canal boats".
As list of feeders are Tomlinson,Circleville,Columbus,Blacklick,Walnut Creek,Southfrok,Granville,Racoon,Northfork,Licking Dam,Walhonding,Trenton,Zoar,Sippo,Mud Brook,Nimisila,Portage Lakes,Little Cuyahoga @16,Little Cuyahoga @21,Pennisula and Pinery or the brecksville Feeder.
Of these 20 or better in number, five were navigable and they were the Granville,Walhonding,Trenton,Zoar and finally the most well known, the Columbus Feeder.
I could spend the entire day depicting posting 1266, although some of its contents were correct when delving into the dams on the Tuscarawas River.
1273-The previous posting has a questionable feeder on the Licking River, where was this located?
1274- I'll take a crack at answering posting 1273. The Licking River Dam in Toboso had the job of raising the water level on the river so it could be used as a navigational link between the outlet lock up river at lock position 15 on the northeastern end of the Licking Staircase down river to the inlet guard lock in Toboso. Some people call the Toboso Lock a guard lock, others refer to it as a lift lock and some are still confused thinking that its actually lock 16 named Vickers, some are convinced it was a lift lock. An argument still exists with some others and me about that site. According to at least two individuals that I've dealt with over this matter, they are steadfast to the idea that a lift lock has to have a high and low side. We know that's not always the case with so many southern locks having an even floor. I personally feel that if the Licking Dam would have busted through, the results to the canal would be as follows, the canal from Toboso to Lower Webbsport would run dry with out the assistance of the Licking River. Another purpose of the Licking Dam was supplying the water to pick up the canal where it left off at the Outlet Lock. By all means the Toboso lock was a water inlet, who can argue with that. In my opinion, it was a guard lock as well as it was an inlet and could have very well been a lift lock as well. It surely doesn’t resemble a guard lock as we know one to look like. Its inner dimensions are exactly to the standard lift lock in size by all means, no ifs, ands or buts.
1275-My theory would lean towards the Toboso Lock being all of the above in listing 1274. Let's imagine for just a moment that the canal carried through the gorge along the river and never had the need to extend to the river. That alone, with the natural drop in elevation accompanying the adjacent river would probably create a demand to place in another lock. Adding one more into the staircase would raise the number to 20 rather than 19. GPS and modern equipment makes it easy to arrive to the conclusion that the Toboso Lock sits 9 feet lower on its inlet approach than the outlet side at lock 15. The river has the same altitude drop over the course of two miles.
1276-We have another area 160 miles north of the Licking Dam which mimicks the Toboso site and its called Pinery Feeder. What's the difference between the Licking Dam inlet and that of the Pinery inlet? Was the Pinery site a lift lock or guard lock, or both?
1277--Anywhere a river or creek is diverted into the canal, consider it to be a feeder.
1278-Who had the right of passage while two boats were on the approach to a lock?
1279--While there was always a tender residing in the lock house, the boat people had to more or less fill or drain the lock themselves for the boats to acquire one level or the other. This waiting for the lock to fill wore on the patience of other boats in waiting and seldom fights broken out. It was the duty of the lock tender to assure that everything about the lock was properly working what including the water level of the canal in his designated area. It was a common site for a boat to push open the lower wooden gates with the nose of the boat entering an already empty chamber. The ascending boat had right of passage if both boats were at an empty chamber. On the other hand a descending boat had the right to passage first if the chamber was full.
1280-I once heard a story out of Waverly about a man who could make boat repairs and stay below the water more than five minutes at a time. His name was (Hix Swartz). I would enjoy knowing more if someone out there has anything to add too this.
1281 to 1280--often enough a lock gate would have sprang a leak and that alone caused a considerable disruption in service delaying boats often days on end. I can't speak for what went on elsewhere but in Waverly we were lucky enough to have immediate help from the 1840 into the 50s when none other than "Hix Swardt" worked around the lock at Waverly making all sorts of repairs. Working along side the Davis Bros who were the local lock tenders from 1835 to 1851 there wasn't anything the trio couldn't tackle when it was related to canal repair. Hix, could swim under and repair leaks to boats staying below some say better than five minutes. More than once the onlookers sent divers to rescue what they thought for certain was a drowned repairman only to witness him working away below water. Hix was famous for making repairs and often set out to meet boats which were in danger of sinking making on the spot repairs.
1282-Are you going to continue posting the re-walk from Cleveland to Portsmouth?
1283-canalwayman I strongly disagree with the path of the canal bed going north from Massillon. I can't even begin to believe the towpath sits east of rt.21 at Lake st.
1284 which Canton Ohio engine builder expanded into saving lives instead of building engines and thrashers?
1285 -Extensive information can be found linking the Aultman Engine & Thresher Company to the megatropolis medical complex in Canton Ohio.
1286--what could Aultman Hospital possibly have in connection to the Ohio & Erie Canal?
1287-Aultman Hospital has no ties with the Ohio and Erie Canal but its history reveals quite an interesting story of the early mechanized era of the state of Ohio!!
1288-Who would have thought that one of Canton Ohio's premier hospitals had its starts as an industrial giant? Aultman, has a very interesting past, and I learned this here on this site.
1289- Responding to 1282 & 1283. I'll be posting about the re-walk of the Ohio and Erie Canal starting next month. I was out of commission for about two weeks due to an injury and severe poison ivy that temporarily put me down. I'm ready to restart and get moving again where I left of a month ago near Dresden.
About posting 1283, I really have never forced such an issue; so, I have no-idea where you’re coming from with this. Let’s get back to the issue of whether or not the towpath ever sat to the east of Rt.21at Lake St.
At that particular place the towpath was west of the intersection by merely inches. The towpath crossed just north of Lake St. at a 45° angle crossing Rt.21 coming from behind the bicycle shop and the Blue Herron restaurant which sits there as well.
If one was to walk north along Rt.21 from Lake St. and keep your eyes peeled to the right you’ll soon see the old canal bed re-appear to the east. If you look hard enough you’ll see a dam which spans the canal bed. Going down to it will reveal some of the rigging used to relieve the water through a small opening or sluice gate. This dam was constructed in the thirties as part of the WPA and the park services for scenic purposes to dam up the canal. The intersection of Kracker and Nish Streets mark where the dam sits behind in the adjacent neighborhood. Who-ever posted the disagreement about the location of the towpath should go down and have a good look.
1290-Being from Massillon and strong into the history of the O & E Canal, you are wrong about the former canal bed. The O & E crossed Lincoln way and hugged Erie St. to Canal Fulton. The towpath was never west of 21!
1291- I'm not going entertain you by offering a rebuttal concerning the whereabouts the former towpath used while passing through Massillon. Although you need to further your education on the accurate path the Ohio and Erie Canal followed passing through Stark County mainly Massillon.
1292--I have went over some of your work in the Waverly / Pee Pee, area of the former Ohio & Erie Canal and my findings very slightly from what you claim to be the topath at White Lake. Would you agree that the topath was a bit more to the west than what you think it was?
1293-to 1292 I feel that the former towpath was exactly where I claimed it to be.
The towpath in and around Waverly can still be distinguished if you take the time to look. Going south from Omega on a course to Waverly reveals bits and pieces before being consumed by farmland and fragments of the canal can be found just north of town along Rt.335, namely E .2nd St. This short watered section is found across the road from Windy St. and Columbia Dr. off 2nd St. that’s where the canal shifted over to the opposite side of the by-way. A change bridge formerly sat at this spot. In 1908, a much larger bridge was constructed at the same spot when a road came in, taking place of the former towpath when it was apparent the southern end of the canal was out of service. Some say the change bridge burned that year. Another story tells how the bridge was blown over by high winds and it was named Kilgore Bridge. In town, we have what’s left of a make-shift lock. Although its position is correct, it doesn’t resemble any lock that I’ve ran across. This lock has a strange feature by having a time capsule imbedded into it to be opened in fifty years. Along 23, there isn’t much to go by except for we knew a canal was once there. Below the lock, we had a basin with plenty of block work giving testimony to the industry that once made up this immediate area. The Waverly Dry Dock sat back in off of Ford Ave along with a lumbar yard and was near the Stahler Bros. milling operation. Heading towards Pee Pee we had two aqueducts to carry the canal overtop. They were Crooked Creek and Pee Pee Creeks. Both structures are gone today. Crooked Creek aqueduct partially stood up until 1949 when it was totally demolished while putting in Rt.23. By doing some thorough investigations, you can still find evidence of its former location at Crooked Creek. Pee Pee Creek Aqueduct was destroyed years earlier when the White Lake project went into action during the depression. That’s when an army of WPA workers built the land dike there today on the eastern end of the lake where Rt. 104 is built on top. The lake was named in the honor of Ohio’s Governor White. The lake project destroyed both locks 45 and 46. Lock 45 was about 500 feet south of the spillway at Crooked Creek where a dam sits now. Lock 46 on the other hand was further south and a slight elevation drop of Rt.104 gives its location away just south of Bricker Rd. Lock 45 was surrounded by businesses, a few of them being the Bauesach’s Brick yard and the Vallery’s Meat packing house and of course the lock tender’s quarters. James Emmitt had an area where he raised hogs solely to eat the spent mash and sold the pork to meat houses in Chillicothe. At his site was an assorted complex of overhead conveyors and chutes that distributed grain and mash and goods to different platforms and dockage to boats in waiting up until the Civil War, soon after the railways found their way into Waverly and to all the mills. Emmitt’s main product was alcohol and whiskey which made him a millionaire during the Civil War.1905 marked the year when a fire swept through Emmitt’s industrial complex causing nearly 100 per cent loss to his industry. James Emmitt was gone for some time by then, but whoever the operations were passed down to, plundered it into the ground. The insurance was reluctant to pay for that loss with the murmurs of arson looming in the air. The insurance withheld full payment after a thorough inspection of the books were completed, which indicated the company was on the verge of bankruptcy - reason enough to believe that a conspiracy was at work surrounding the fire. I recently was given the information that the Pee Pee Locks were named after a land owner from abroad with the initials of P.P. Omega was formerly named Sharonville during the canal era.
1294--Besides being one Waverly's leading businessmen, James Emmitt was also a strong supporter of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
Emmitt was partly responsible for bringing the Rev. Edward Weed to Waverly during the summer of 1836 to give some lectures in the new boom town on the perils of slavery.
This visit by the Rev. Weed, almost led to a mob lynching of the Rev. Weed as well as Dr. William Blackstone where Weed was staying.
Fortunately, Weed was secreted out of town and stayed in Piketon before the mod could harm him, even though they did shave all the hair off of his horse.
James Emmitt died in 1893.
1295-I can see that you went through the underground passage below Akron, in doing this did you pay attention to whether or not the sewers connect into it??
1296- In response to 1295. What I found was wasn't sewage drain connections, but street runoff connections instead that were tied into the underground waterway. The second level from the very bottom has an awful lot of trash collected on that level, but I feel as if comes down from Summit Lake. There's about five different levels beginning at the bottom on the lock 10 level up to the 3, 2 level. The bottom is vast in size and usually has only one spillway of three or four running at once. The sound inside the tunnel is deafening being carried throughout the whole underground waterway. Looking back, I don't think that going through there was too smart and I'll stay clear from going back through there again. The reasoning for going through was to find the locks, 9 through 4. I wasn't educated enough then on the canal and went in looking.
1297- Does anyone no just how many passengers plied the canal on a seasonal basis?
1298- to 1297-No one can substantiate for certainty how many used the Ohio Canal for travel from it very beginnings, although an 1833 census has the highest number as a whopping 1,700 passengers, mostly tourists who wanted to take passage on the historic marvel and newest mode of travel to reach the Ohio borders. That number would be higher if it included short passages from here to there. The large number was those who booked passage from Cleveland to West Portsmouth and this number applied to Packets. Many jumped onboard freighters for short distances and hopped off and on from the banks of the towpath. All passages were not accounted for and kept track of and were not claimed at the toll booth. In 1850, we have a number of 900 who booked passage for the entire 308 miles. Again, that number was probably higher if it included partial passage. 1870 showed a distinct decline with only 350 recorded making a full passage of the canal. In 1882, we have records which indicate only 405 passed through the Dover Toll station, being short runs on the northern end by then, with the lower end showing signs of going defunct. In 1906, there were less than 100 people using the canal. That number includes canal boats who registered at the tolls. In 1912, there were 11 canal boats in use without a single packet boat .
1299-The Volunteer takes up to 75 passengers on hour-long round trip journeys on a small segment of the 96 mile Illinois and Michigan Canal. While headed east from its dock at Lock 14, The Volunteer is pulled by two mules named "Moe" and "Larry" that walk along the adjacent towpath. The captain steers the boat by hand with the large wooden rudder at the back of the boat. Along the way an interpreter, dressed in period clothing, explains to passengers the history of the canal and what travel was like in the year 1848. [8] [9]Once the boat reaches the Little Vermilion River aqueduct, the mules are detached and the boat backs up using its twin 4hp electric motors.
1300-A couple of things to inquire about. How's the canal walk doing these days? Have you progressed any further south than Dresden?
I live in Canton as you do, hopefully you can answer my query. Where was the Canton connection to the Sandy & Beaver Canal? What ever happened to the Canton Canal?
1301 to 1300.
The walk has been put on hold until this winter. The winter time has its advantages, one of them is better vision, the other is, and you don't sweat away in the heat. I will be picking it up again just before Dresden and then continue on throughout this up-coming winter. A disadvantage about going it during the winter months is, the days are shorter and once the sun drops in the western sky , you don't have too long to get back to your vehicle. Because of that alone, I make certain that a bike isn't too far away and I can make it back before dark. I have a friend who lives just outside of Dresden who informed me about a week back that there have been two bear sightings around the Black-Hand Gorge State Park. I made contact with the ODNR who claim that this year we have several sightings throughout the state.
The Sandy & Beaver Canal was the proposed conduit to be used for a Canton connection to the Ohio and Erie Canal using the Nimishillen & Sandy Slackwater Navigational Co. which was deemed to be the Canton, Ohio connection. This proposal claimed that all points east & west by way of the Sandy could be carried out, if so sky-rocketing Canton’s economy, making them a major player by moving freight. The canal was in actuality the waters of the two branches of the Nimishillen combined that connected with the Sandy at Sandyville near lock number 8. The Nimishillen & Sandy Slackwater Co. was organized to build a canal from Canton via the Nimishillen and Sandy Creeks. Thousands of dollars went into the engineering and to groom the canal's channel through Canton ending at Sandy Creek. In all reality, a canal was never actually dug. But in those days and times, it was a canal frenzy, to say you had a canal or even a proposal was big stuff. This great endeavor fell flat on its face when the Sandy and Beaver began having structural difficulties early on thus enabling investors to be too interested in further contributions, a connection from Canton was quickly fizzling away, but rescue wasn’t too far off.
Massillon was hurting Canton by having its well organized canal infrastructure at work, and that alone was almost enough strength to remove Canton as the county seat. Within a decade of that later on in or about 1861, Piketon lost their county seat to Waverly on the strength of commerce generated on the canal, like Canton, Piketon wasn’t on the banks of the Ohio and Erie Canal. The decade between 1840 & 50, was Massillon's hey-day. From afar, shippers from Wayne, Holmes, Columbiana and Jefferson Counties were relying on the use of the Sandy & Beaver Canal to provide the ability to ship goods to far distant ports. The tide began to turn against the canal systems here in Ohio and across the region of the states that relied on the canals in or about 1851… 1851 marks the year when tracks were laid into Canton and Massillon both. It was Canton which was better situated as more of a cross-road, than Massillon. The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad promised Canton that they would run their tracks there first and kept their word by doing so. By 1880. Canton had an about face, now a leader in the industrial world and Massillon still had their lagging canal system, barely running and business was leaving moving to Canton at an alarming rate. Further research leans towards the scenario that Canton, who was fighting to retain the county seat, may have made the motions to provide a canal only to hold off from being vacated as the county seat, which would have been a great loss.
1301-to 1300- I never realized that Canton was getting on-board the canal frenzee. What's left if anything that perhaps reflects on the construction process of the proposed waterway from Canton to Sandy Creek?
1302 to 1301-Long before the conception of turning Nimishillen Creek into a navigable canalway, there set many mills in operation from Canton to Sandy Creek, the property was privately owned. The construction process never really had gotten into full swing, or barely moved at all. The creek below Canton was basically left alone all the way down to the connection to the Sandy and Beaver Canal. I know that I've written of this before, but we'll go at again in some detail. But first I'd like to say that when the bridge over the western branch of the Nimishillen was rebuilt on Tuscarawas Ave in Canton last year, they destroyed an old block winding staircase that led to a dock on the proposed waterway. Some small bits of construction were completed to make it look to the general public that work was moving forward back in the 1840s. The idea of the canalway was to produce enough hype in order to hold a county seat that was on the fringe of being lifted away from Canton and being re-assigned to Massillon. The western branch of the Nimishillen was widened and altered to the standard canal prism width from Fulton Rd. to just under the central interchange where Rt. 30 and I-77 intermingle. Anything below that was virtually left as it was, but in the public eye, things were happening. The idea of this connection then was enough to hold the county seat from moving away. Other problems existed on down the creek, these problem surfaced when the property owners along its banks were reluctant to sell for the measly amounts that were being offered from the newly formed enterprise namely, the Nimishillen & Sandy Slack-water Navigational Co. This company was formed from the upper class merchants and lawyers, judges etc who were in fear of the county seat moving off. They sold their ideas to many who lost life savings by investing in a project that was never really designed to get off the ground, only a cloak to buy time for Canton. The landowners and milling operations refused to give in or sell for the lack of a good and fair offer. Many obstacles needed to be dealt with to make such an idea work bringing a working canal from Canton to the Sandy & Beaver System. GPS puts Canton and the Sandy connection at an in difference of about 20 feet, which that alone would call for at least 3 locks and probably some dams. By personal experience on the creek, some places along the creek are merely inches deep where other places are swift moving rapids with tight bends with series of- S- curves and switchbacks. Near E-Sparta and through some areas to its south, a major straightening process would be in need then to make things work hindered again by high banks and tight corners. To answer the request in the previous listing, there's really not much to see from a project that never got off the ground, except there are some remains of a dam where the Nimishillen met up with the Sandy & Beaver Canal at its furthest point south. The Sandy & Beaver Canal ran parallel to Sandy Creek near the confluence and it made a crossing of Nimishillen Creek about 50 yards north of the Sandy. There are several sites with block work near where the east and west branch of the Nimishillen finally meet...
1302--- I follow some of Wendy Adkins work and for the biggest part find it either questionable or incorrect, have you ever met her? Below are to such pieces she has listed under feeders.
Dresden Sidecut
This sidecut entered the Ohio & Erie Canal at Webbsport, connecting the Muskingham River Improvement with the canal at Dresden. It had an aqueduct over Watakomica Creek, was 3 miles long with 3 locks with a total rise of 29 feet.
Granville Feeder
Near Millersport on the Licking Summit it was 6 miles long with one lift lock of 10 feet rise and one guard lock.
1303-1302---I haven't had the opportunity to meet this person who shares the same interest as of yet. Everyone has their own outlook and scenarios of the events and actual facts as they see them. Please in the future refrain from asking such questions about another person who studies our history and canal systems without leaving your full name!!
1303--I was told somewhere down the line that the Muskingum Improvement was abandoned often in the years between 1830 thru 1912 and was never fully functional to a degree of certainty. Do we have anything on it which can verify its success?
1304- Canalwayman, I appreciate your take by refraining from discrediting others work, Wendy Adkins being the subject matter. She has brought forth many fine points and puts her soul into what ever she ends up doing. Some of here information needs further research but between the lines she is known to deliver really good technical info.
1305 Part 1
Looking back into time, it’s apparent that the Muskingum Improvement was a total disaster from its conception. The idea to harness a river which randomly rises from the confinements of its banks causing considerable flooding and could somehow make a reliable transportation route, was impractical. There was more federal money spent developing this particular waterway during its time than Ohio’s entire canal expenditures combined. Of the eleven lift-locks and dams and its five side cuts on the water way, none of them were immune from the wrath of the mighty Muskingum River which on several occasions throughout the years consumed them. The Muskingum is generally a slow and peaceful river without incident, but abnormally early rains onto permafrost terrain causes such a rush of water throughout all of Ohio’s rivers that these peaceful gentle rivers are transformed into rushing rivers, over-running everything in their way.
Going back in time, the original course of the Ohio and Erie Canal was from Cleveland to Portsmouth, a distance of 308 miles. Dresden was a branch canal or some may call it a side-cut which was constructed from the main branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal, so Dresden could make a connection to Zanesville, then on to the Ohio River. This Muskingum idea was abandoned many times through the decades that the Ohio and Erie was operational. To make this come to life, the responsibility fell upon the state and the federal government to once again attempt to make the necessary repairs to open the water way for usage.
Ten years prior, the state officially abandoned the Walhonding Canal in 1896 and the railroad that took its place continued to operate until 1936 when the Mohawk dam was built for flood control, effectively cutting off the right-of-way.
When the Walhonding Canal closed, it also closed its feeder that dropped into the lower basin at Roscoe Village. Until then, it could sufficiently supply the canal’s water needs from Coshocton to Dresden, a distance of about twenty miles give or take. The next feeder was to the east, coming down the southern slope from Portage Summit. Trenton was miles away, a distance of forty-six miles from Dresden. Without the Walhonding feeder assistance, that would be the longest stretch ever known. It was just too far away to be effective.
1305 Part 2
To remedy this situation, in1907, a dam was erected spanning the Muskingum River which would take the place of the Walhonding Feeder supplying the distance required. The state had big ideas about reopening the canal and Dresden was then named the southern and central terminus of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
The O&E Canal was being transformed during those years, undergoing a complete overhaul from Cleveland to Dresden Junction. Its southern counterpart from Upper Webbsport to the Ohio River in part had been put out of service by then for a couple of decades. In such places as Chillicothe and Circleville, the canal bed was being filled in. Lower Webbsport was on the Adams Mill lock 30 level and was going to remain as a port. Wakatomika Creek separated both the Upper and Lower Webbsport locks from one another.
The plan was in motion to finally utilize the Muskingum River for navigation and the money was pouring into this project. It was to be opened by 1909. 1909 came and went. The Muskingum wasn’t ready, but a new proposal date was given. This time it was for 1912.
I said to myself over and over, where was this dam and feeder located that took over the responsibility that the Walhonding Feeder once held. I set out looking for it and finally found it. After walking the banks of the Muskingum River over the course of several days, I found the new feeder right where it should have been all along, in Tyndal. Tyndal is a short jaunt from Roscoe Village heading towards Adams Mills. At Tyndal, you’ll find a neat straight row of block-stones coming off the river at an angle. They were part of the feeder that connected the Muskingum to the mainline canal.
To answer the posting inquiring about the success of the Muskingum improvement, I can sum it up by saying that in all reality, it was a blunder.
1306-Are you trying to say that the side cut connection to the Muskingum Improvement never materialized all those years. I find that contradictory to what I have believed, and that the connection point at Dresden Junction wasn’t a bustling community with large river steamers and plenty of dockage.
1306-I can go and visit the triple locks at Roscoe Village but fail to visualize where the feeder was located.
1307- A spillway sat adjacent to the triple locks and flowed into the basin. This spillways purpose was to regulate the lift locks. its water supply was the Walhonding Canal which sat atop the furthest lock from the basin.
1308- We recently visited the locks at Dresden-locks 31.32.33 why do they carry a continuance in the numbering system off the Portage Summit when the bottom of the Licking Summit is close at hand? My concern takes me to believe that another lock would have been at hand to make the connection at the Muskingum River. Looking further, there are no records that I have found which recorded any canal activity at Dresden Junction transferring goods.
1309-." It is a mile in length, and was constructed for the state by Lyons, Buck & Wolf, contractors, the work under the supervision of Christley Wolf, having been completed in 1840. The locks are 36 feet wide and 200 feet long. Where is this place? Anyone can answer!
1310-The Taylorsville canal is a part of the system of "improvements in the navigation of the Muskingum." It is a mile in length, and was constructed for the state by Lyons, Buck & Wolf, contractors, the work under the supervision of Christley Wolf, having been completed in 1840. The locks are 36 feet wide and 200 feet long.
The Taylorsville bridge was projected by Gearing Scarvell in 1873 and was originally intended to be a private enterprise; but the county commissioners took it in hand and it was begun July 1, 1874, and finished in about four and one-half months. T. B. Townsend, of Zanesville, was the stonework contractor, and the superstructure was erected by the Smith Bridge Company, of Toledo, Ohio. The entire structure cost about $28,000, and it is noted for its great length, about 800 feet.
1311- Contrary to belief, Dresden Junction never had its day. The Ohio & Erie Canal Connection with the navigational route with of Muskingum River was pushed all over the planners table indefinitely, for some a life time. There are no indicators left as remnants there at the Muskingum River to reminisce the possibility of its being there.
1312 to 1311. its my belief that a connection was made at Dresden and goods from the states interior began moving by 1841.
A side cut, or branch canal, of about two and a half miles in length, from the main canal to the Muskingum, at Dresden, with three boat locks, overcoming a descent of twenty-eight feet from the canal into the river, will be necessary, to perfect the plan. The cost of this side cut will be about thirty-five thousand dollars." The contract for building this side cut was at once let, to be completed September 1, 1829.
The question of this improvement' continued to be agitated until 1835, when the contracts were let, and work began. The contractors were : Josiah Spaulding, G. W. Manypenny ; Lyon, Buck & Wolf; Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, and Arthur and James Taggert. The whole work was under the personal supervision of David Bates, civil engineer.
In 1841, the work was so far advanced as to allow the passage of boats ; but it was not until a year later that the 'Muskingum Improvement' was entirely completed. The total cost was one million six hundred thousand dollars.
The revenue of the improvement is derived from tolls, similar to those collected on the Ohio Canal. The locks are located as follows : Dresden, Simms' Creek, Zanesville, Taylorsville, Eaglesport, McConnellsville, Windsor, Luke Chute, Beverly, Lowell, Devolt, and Harmar, There are two locks at Zanesville, and a dam near each of the locks named, except at Dres-
1313-TOLL RECEIPTS.-The receipts during the year 1879, from tolls and water rents, on Division No. 2, of the Public Works of Ohio, which embraces the Ohio and Hocking Canals, and the Muskingum Improvement, aggregated $35,- 084.99, divided as follows :
Ohio Canal-Tolls - $ 8,056 82
Water rents - 4,250 72
Total - $12,307 54
Hocking Canal-Tolls - $ 7,129 51
“ ” - Water rents - 1,056 18
Total - $ 8,185 69
Muskingum Improvement-Tolls - $10,872 59
“ ” -Water rents - 3,719 17
Total - $14,591 76
The expenditures for the same period were as follows
Ohio Canal - $18,221 72
Hocking Canal - 9,833 13
Muskingum Township - 16,059 79
Salary of Engineer - 900 00
Total - $45,014 64
The excess of the expenditures over the re- receipts was $9,929.64.
1314-Which of Ohio's canal cities fell under the rule of Martial Law after the aftermath of the 1913 flood?
1315---. This notice by Governor James M. Cox placed the city of Dayton, Ohio under martial law in the aftermath of the 1913 flood. Cox ordered residents to stay in their homes and cooperate with National Guard troops that were assisting the rescue and clean-up attempts.
This question goes out to "Trivia Guy". All of the locks on the Muskingum River are present all except for lock 1 at Marietta, why did the state remove it? Secondly, was the lock on thee Ohio, or in the Muskingum River?
CSO
1316 responding to 1315.
All 11 of the Muskingum locks were on the Muskingum River. Lock number 1 was situated in Marietta which served as frontage on the Muskingum River. By comparison, the Muskingum River played no real part in the city’s growth, judging by the commerce generated on the Ohio River. The Ohio River had the capability of connecting larger industrial cities where the Muskingum River had none larger than Zanesville or Marietta, who weren't considered to be of any great importance in the industrialized world. The great hopes for the Muskingum Improvement project were to connect upper Ohio by way of canal usage to Dresden Junction. Lake Erie would be connected closer with the Ohio River. If this could be done by making a shorter way to the Ohio River rather than going an additional 150 miles of the Ohio and Erie Canal, the state was in favor of it. In those early years, the ideas of building the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal and addition to it, the Sandy and Beaver Canal to connect the Ohio River with Lake Erie were not born yet. If the conception for the two canals just mentioned had materialized years earlier, both of them may have been a success in springing up newer and bigger industrialized towns across Ohio. The Muskingum River route was the only answer to a shorter way of obtaining access to the Ohio River. If it succeeded and worked as planned, the lower end of the Ohio and Erie Canal would be of little importance. It was the failure of the Muskingum as an internal connection that spawned the idea for alternative canals to the east.
Lock 1 in Marietta was removed off of the Muskingum River with the construction of the dams across the Ohio River. Below Marietta sits the Belleville Lock and Dam near Reedsville and above Marietta sits the Willow Island Lock and Dam, a distance just under 45 miles separating them. The areas behind a dam are considered to be pools. Marietta was in the path of this particular pool which raised the elevation of the Ohio River several feet, enough to swallow up lock 1 on the Muskingum, so it was removed. The new elevation on the Ohio River compensated for the Muskingum pool from Marietta to lock 2 in Devola, a distance of nearly 6 miles.
1317 to 1308
The numbering system which continued into Dresden Junction from the Portage Summit could have just as easily continued from the Licking Summit to that point. The plan was to incorporate Dresden Junction as the southern terminus of the Ohio and Erie Canal. Strangely enough, the bottom of the Licking Summit staircase was barely to its west, where the bottom of the Portage Summit staircase was several miles to the east at Adams Mills at lock 30.
1318-Which section of the Ohio River was referred to as the "last stop" up until the time came when a lock system was finally devised?
ACS
1318 / I disagree with where you think the lift bridge was located in Massillon. Your words at the speaking engagement at the museum clearly indicated that the newly built lift bridge destroyed by the flood of 1913 spanned over the canal. It was built over the Tuscarawas River! Do your homework before opening your mouth!!
1319- 1318----
That speaking engagement was almost three years ago. I'll stand by my words about the lift bridge location in Massillon. After that presentation, my email lit up with those who were in disagreement.
Like you, they said the lift bridge crossed the Tuscarawas River. Don’t forget, the year was 1913; Massillon had already found its way across the river when a stone bridge was erected in the 1880s. This bridge took place of a rickety wooden structure. The stone bridge sat well enough above the river and another bridge was built at Tremont and another further north another at Lake St... The Tuscarawas River wasn't a navigational river, even flat boats weren't unable to move within its banks with its countless sandbars, rapids etc and don’t forget scores of dams. On that alone, would be why a lift bridge of any configuration be built on the river, no boats would or could pass below it? The Lift Bridge was on Main St. at the canal, the intersection in question would be 1st St. SE and Lincoln Way. Looking closely at a picture of this structure there seems to be recognizable buildings in the picture as well, that stand there today. The lift mechanism lifted two opposing massive steel sections as canal boats passed below, it ran by electricity. When open, each side was standing straight up. The reasoning for the new bridge was so that Main Street could level off where the canal passed below it. By leveling the bridge, pedestrians and buggies didn’t have to climb up and over the steep arch of the previous bridge. The bridge was destroyed during the 1913 flood.
1320-The "last stop" a phrase used to describe the rapids at Louisville, Kentucky a section known to be impassible. A river boat dropped its cargo and passengers either above or below the rapids to be transferred to a boat waiting to continue the voyage.
ACS
1321- On the Miami Canal at Bad Creek sat thee only double arched culvert here in Ohio.
1322
To 1321. The Bad Creek double arched culvert was one of four on the Miami & Erie canals main line. There was one at Turtle Creek on the Loramie Summit, one in Franklin at Clear Creek,and another still existing double barreled structure at Eldean (north of Troy), It can still be seen beside Rt 25A in a small roadside park.
The St Marys/Mercer County reservoir feeder has a still existing triple arched culvert near its junction with the M&E.
The Ohio & Erie canal had numerous multi-arched culverts (mostly to the south) that were converted later to aqueducts. One still stands on private property at Rocky Fork creek north of Newark.--- W.A.Seed
1323-To W.A.Seed----Would one assume that an aqueduct is only an unsightly rickety spans of un-organized lumber destined to give away. Are culverts the only trustworthy conduits devised of stone? Which culverts transitioned into aqueducts? By definition, every span on every canal system which indeed carries a canal over a stream or gulch can only be an aqueduct. A culvert has an entirely and simpler definition.
Troy
1324
To 1323. Technically a culvert can be also be considered an aqueduct. The State engineers in their annual reports did distinguish between the two styles of structures. Though they both conveyed the canal over a lower stream of water, if the canal passed through a flume composed of soil it was a culvert,if it passed through a flume constructed of wood (in some later instances of iron or concrete) it was refered to as a aqueduct.Please share your definition.
While stone arched culverts (not wood box) usually were more cost effective over the long term, several that weren't & had to be reconstructed as rickety wooden aqueducts were located at Stoney Creek,Pee Pee creek,Brush Creek,Sunfish Creek etc,, etc..--W.A.Seed
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel (conduit) constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose.[1] In a more restricted use, aqueduct (occasionally water bridge) applies to any bridge or viaduct that transports water—instead of a path, road or railway—across a gap. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each side. The word is derived from the Latin aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead").
Culverts come in many shapes and sizes, including round, elliptical, flat-bottomed, pear-shaped, and box. They vary from the small drainage culverts found on highways and driveways to large diameter structures on significant waterways or supporting large water control works. The latter can comprise large engineering projects.
There are three primary materials that culverts are made out of: steel, precast concrete, and polymer (plastic). They can also be built as a hybrid between steel and concrete, for example an open-bottom corrugated steel structure on concrete footings, or a corrugated steel structure with a concrete "collar" around the ends.
When boxes or pipes are placed side-by-side to create a width of greater than twenty feet, the culvert is defined as a bridge in the United States. This is a requirement of the federal bridge inspection standards and ensures that the culvert is inspected on a regular basis.
Troy
1326
To Troy- It would seem that we're pretty much in agreement on the definitions. This would explain why many of the larger canal culverts still serving under roadbeds have county bridge placards on top.
Since you may be familiar with the Miami & Erie side of the state, what would you call the six mile crossing a few miles north of St.Marys? To me it is sort of a hybrid. It was originally built as a aqueduct (in the common rickety,leaky wood sense of the term) & later re- built with a concrete/soil lined flume and a concrete/soil filled towpath. There's never been a consistant,published description on this one--- W.A.Seed
1327 to 1326
The answer may lie here, more than likely to be, the aqueduct at "Six Mile Creek", perhaps Prairie Creek Culvert. A bit further between locks 12 and 11 positioned was the St.Mary's River Aqueduct; I don't think that's what you had in mind.
Troy
1328
To 1327. The concrete Prairie Creek culvert is a short distance north of the Six Mile structure (just south of Kossuth). Six Mile is featured in Geicks book on page 32 & is also on the cover of Loomis's book. Geick calls it a culvert,Loomis calles it an aqueduct.--- W.A.Seed
1329-The lockkeeper's responsibilities were, he had to be ready dawn to dusk to respond to the boatman’s horn or the shout of, “is the lock ready”. He would get ready the lock and lock the waiting boat through. His meager pay was a whopping $150 per year. Over the course of the years between the 1820 and the 80s the lockkeeper’s pay was substantially higher reaching the area of $800 per annual. His home was supplied as a package deal and for many; several generations of lockkeepers lived in the same home. A lockkeeper was allowed to sell produce and products which included whisky much to the Canal Commissions displeasure. One person could operate a lock, but having another worked much better. Other duties for the lockkeeper were to maintain the lock and he was responsible for the stretch of canal below them. He had to be a jack of all trades and made all sorts of repairs to the lock and the towpath within his section.
1330- Did the horses and mules have certain hours of operation, was there a standard time which was set for how long an animal was allowed to work?
Karen
1331 Responding to 1330 and 1329.
I would doubt if a standard was given by which the pulling teams worked. If there was a specified time in which they did work, no-one would be available to enforce the rule. Today, we have log books the truck drivers use and that’s pretty much how things are done today in the transportation world. The log books are a way to ensure that the driver gets an adequate amount of rest. Here’s what I know about the pulling team. The mules were well-suited for the job - quick learners, steady and most of all sure-footed. The Grand Canyon mules demonstrate the best example of that. A mule is just like any other trainable animal, they are programmed to do a specific duty. In most cases, the mules could be left unattended for long stretches and endless miles without the use of a driver or a hoggie. The average time to have your team pull was in the area of six hours, and the mules had a keen sense of that and would stop on their own when their shift was over. I have read that they would refuse to move until relieved. The mules to a boat were the same as an engine today and needed to be maintained to get the best performance. In nearly every case, they were kept clean and were manicured and often brushed. It was very seldom that a driver used whips. It was those who did so who had the stubborn mules that we here about. A strong firm yell using specific words was common then to get them going. “Come up” was enough to get things moving. Another term often used when a female mule was in season was “Lady in Waiting.” This was yelled to an approaching boat to warn the driver to take charge of his team. Usually it was too late by that point and the male mules in some instances took off pulling the boat at an alarming speed, stopping abruptly next to her, only to have the boat pass right on by, jerking them into the canal behind the boat. The mules were part of the crew or gang, and because of that, they gave them a lot to laugh about by their awkward antics. Many mules were gigantic and often enough, the boat captains boasted about their mules and who had the better beast while enjoying a good beer or downing a whisky at the local tavern. Just like we have today, the crews engaged their team in pull offs which attracted large numbers of people who came to watch. It was a big ordeal.
I wish to make a correction to posting 1329 which states that a lockkeeper’s job was dawn to dusk. It was 24 hours a day.
1332----To gain control of the sexual urges of the dominant mule an animal of preference was the Hinny… Although when one of your team gave birth it was a celebration on-board and one would think a new child was born.
Hinny is an offspring of a male horse and a female donkey. A lot of times, hinnies are mistaken as mules or the other way around. It should not be surprising since a mule is an offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. However, unlike mules, hinnies are rarer. This reason is due to the fact that female donkeys are pickier when it comes to their partner. Even the male horse is also picky when it comes to a mate. Thus, it makes it very difficult to pair it up so it could have intercourse and produce an offspring. There are even instances wherein the male horse and female donkeys mate but still, the female donkey will not conceive.
Generally speaking these breeds look a like but when you take a closer look, there are several differences that you could spot. The hinny’s face resembles more of a horse than a mule. Also, the ears of a hinny are rounder and shorter compared to a mule. Aside from that, hinnies are also smaller compared to mules. Also, hinnies have a tail and mane that resembles a horse. Another horse like attribute that hinnies were able to get from their father is the color of their coat. This is due to the fact that in most cases, the color of the coat will be based from the genes of the male parent.
In cases wherein a hinny offspring is created, this offspring is usually sterile. The reason behind this is due to the differences of the chromosomes of the donkey and horse. You can find sixty-two chromosomes in a donkey while there are sixty-four chromosomes for a horse. The result of the cross breed between these two animals provides sixty-three chromosomes for hinnies. Because of having an odd-numbered chromosome, hinnies are regarded to have an incomplete reproductive system.
Troy
1333-Who was the inventor of the lock gate?
1334-1333
Everyone knows that the canal locks and their chambers were designed by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1485!
CSO
1335-The grand scale of the canal project can over-shadow the high level of engineering represented by the individual structures. Without the use of today's sophisticated tools and equipment, the engineers created enduring structures of both beauty and longevity. Detailed general plans were drawn for the series of aqueducts, dams, magnificent locks and culverts but the need to adapt the structures to available materials and local conditions - often in water or on rugged terrain, created an interesting variety of sizes and designs. Their fine masonry work and graceful lines are reminders of an age when standards were high.
Shetler
1336-Most of the canal’s shutdowns can be blamed one way or the other on water. Little or too much had drastic affects. The worst possible scenario was too much water which was blamed for massive amounts of destruction. Let’s nor forget the freezing conditions which split aqueducts, culverts, locks and boats tucked away for the winter who’s hulls were crushed from the ice. Consequently floods disrupted the commerce of the interior trade routes here in Ohio and other states. What made an area so attractive to run a canal close to a river capable of supplying the reasonable demand of water the canal needs to operate was on the flip side its demise. Uncontrollable rivers brought an inconsistency to the canal systems, a force which couldn’t be tamed or controlled no-matter what was improvised to take hold to protect the canal from eminent danger.
Troy
1337-The Ohio & Erie Canal became a crucial link in an economic web of connecting waterways which eventually stretched from the Great Lakes all the way to the eastern seaboard, Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. Here in Ohio, the Ohio & Erie Canal, its first nautical by-way, was an enormous success and formed a strong relationship with newborn towns where prosperity soon followed. This success; however, would be short-lived – hardly showing a profit after 50 short years. The state’s economic health was held prisoner to coal strikes, sickness, poor crops and the worst of all - the lack or surplus of water. A poor crop had its impacts on the farmers and haulers alike. Miners' strikes had immediate effects felt all over from Cleveland down to the Ohio River. This great loss of revenue hurt the milling industries that had played absolutely no part in the strains between the coal haulers and the mines. The disgruntled miners were violent and stopped all traffic moving in all directions. Many boats were boarded and crews were beaten and robbed with the boats being destroyed as acts of retaliation by the coal haulers who suspected others were hauling. The northern mines then planted armed guards on board the boats that would haul the coal north during the strike. Stemming from the violence demonstrated by the strikers, many boats then picked up arms and the men sat on top with rifle in hand to show strength as they were getting tired of being bullied by the strikers. The coal haulers were disliked by the regulars and never were welcomed with open arms at churches, taverns or social events. With a reputation of violence hanging over them, they were shooed off like an unwanted dog. They were always filthy in appearance from head to toe, covered by soot. The grain haulers in the 1860’s, had similar incidents and mimicked what they learned from the coal haulers where often, violent outbursts erupted at the mills. The wheat industry was forming a monopoly and the price for hauling it was near nothing. The mills had their own boats by then and any surplus loading was handed down to the next boat in line that moved the wheat for pennies. Starvation set out among the canawlers and working a boat was becoming hardly profitable. The crew men just walked away when the tracks were laid and prosperity was reborn when the men of this state worked out the rest of their lives on dry land working the railways of Ohio. Going into the 1860’s and forward into the 20th century, one could often see a canal boat listing and rotting away in the canals of our state. It usually had a new crew on-board made up of the laughter of children who plied the canal using their imagination rather than a team of mules.
Canalwayman
1338-Going through this sight, I stumbled across certain indicators where you solemnly express that an 80 hour voyage from Lake Erie to Portsmouth was a hoax and shear propaganda to bolster it to heights it could not achieve. How can you make such a statement without living in that era?
Canal Coalition
1339
1338- I have never once to date called the advertised time of passage given by the canal commission of the use of the Ohio and Erie Canal from top to bottom a "hoax". But, I will today. I’ll put this into perspective for even those who may have a slight mental and mathematical challenge as you obviously do. At 4 MPH x 80 hours, this adds up to a distance of 320 miles, leaving 3 hours to spare. Now, how about adding in whatever time was needed to pass through 150 locks, ands let's not leave out congestion and the usual mooring at night.
1340-I tend to agree with Canalwayman and I certainly cannot visualize an 80 hour passage by no-means traversing so many locks. The packets generally ran during the daylight hours. It's duly noted that the "DAILY LINE OF OHIO PACKETS" had a set schedule and it was certainly a hoax to bolster business. The myth of an 80 hour passage was built on an impractical farst, all in which was make-believe to the general public. I challenge anyone to name one single boat that made the voyage from Cleveland to the Ohio River in the advertised time frame given by the Canal Commission of 80 hours.
1341- I have two queries; one pertains to the Bolivar Aqueduct and its collapse which hindered the canal all the way back to Clinton?
What is that pile of blocks piled up river at the Bolivar Aqueduct ruins?
B. Carmichael
1342
1341-- I think that perhaps you have the Bolivar Aqueduct confused with the Tuscarawas Aqueduct. The Bolivar Aqueduct was part of the Sandy & Beaver Canal system. The Bolivar Aqueduct, as the Tuscarawas Aqueduct, both carried a canal over the Tuscarawas River. The Tuscarawas River had only one Ohio and Erie Canal crossing by way of an aqueduct and it was on the Navarre and Bolivar level. If the Tuscarawas Aqueduct failed, which it done so in the late 19th century, it surely would have disrupted the canals usage for miles in both directions. With the water supply breached above Bolivar at the river, that would create a dry canal bed all of the way into Zoar. In Zoar the canal traffic could again pick up with the water coming in off the Tuscarawas River at the Zoar Dam and Feeder. Back up the canal beyond the Tuscarawas Aqueduct going north, its canal would stand nearly dry all of the way to its next feeder on the northern end of Canal Fulton at the Nimisila Feeder. It would be necessary to shut the canal down until the repairs were made at the Tuscarawas Aqueduct. That breach caused nearly 40 miles of dry canal bed leaving boats stranded from Canal Fulton to Zoar, which included all the canal towns between those two points. I have an article which goes into detail about that particular break which I'll post soon. When the water stopped flowing in the canal, it had other affects because the milling stopped and everything that relied on the canal to carry industry came to an abrupt stop. If the canal was low for a long period of time, people had growing concerns when a rotten stench began developing. If the water was shut off by way of opening all the sluice gates to the north of the aqueduct, it would have affects that would include the town of Clinton. It’s possible the water was shut off at the Clinton Guard Lock at mile 52.
The piles of blocks at the Tuscarawas Aqueduct in the river were from the discards from the previous supports which held that span up for nearly 75 years.
1343
To 1342. Wouldn't simply shutting the 2 sets of gates on Lock 6 in Navarre have preserved the water level north of that point ?---W.A.Seed
1344 to 1343-The canal would still continue to fill because a measurable amount of water would still pass the millrace and tumble at any location ultimately ending up at the aqueduct. To ratify such a problem the water flow needed addressed miles away.
Troy
1345
To 1344
Troy- The bypass located at most locks were designed to maintain the designated minimum depth of the canal upsstream. On the Ohio & Erie that would have been 4 feet. A waste weir was located only a short distance north of the Navarre lock in order to dump off any excess fed from the Clinton slackwater feeder into the adjacent river.
W.A.Seed
1346
1345-I stand in total agreement with your posting and certainly what a waste way is intended to do. A waste way is a crucial part of an unmanned flood control device installed by design that reduces the chances of washing out the towpath. A tumble, also unmanned, guarantees or maintains the canal depth in lower levels. Again , by design, a tumble-way sitting adjacent with a lock by design sits an inch below the standard canal depth in order to keep the canal’s water moving constantly to its lower levels. For instance, if every lock remained closed, the canal would remain filled if everything was in working order.
Troy
1347 to 1342
It would appear the years in question are the in closing of the 19th century. One must bear in mind; those were the years in which the canal and its structures were in their worst possible shape. My opinion is quite simple, it was probably easier to shut down the canal completely to make repairs rather than have several leaking lock chambers refilling the canal. I doubt very much that too many businesses or canal boats felt an economic blow by having no water in the canal.
1348---The Tuscarawas Aqueduct busted through in July of 1898 with the canal boat Colonel Jarvis stuck near its western end. The Jarvis was heavily laden with coal from Tuscarawas County. After many attempts performing make shift repairs shoring up the aqueduct, the boat remained steadfast, resting on the muddy bottom. From Bolivar and the surrounding villages, nearly a hundred of the strongest horses and mules gathered and were able to slowly slide the stranded boat through the mud to the Navarre side onto terra firma.
Terry
1349-I find it hard to believe that anyone used the canal to move freight after the railroads were established, especially coal. How did the crew go about unloading the pay-load?
Bessemer
1350
1349 There was never a device invented so the coal was simply unloaded from a canal boat, better than a shovel or lowering a box onboard. Nothing scraped the coal from the boat resembling an automated shovel. In many places by use of a block & tackle and a swinging arm, this would speed up the unloading process, by lowering a rather large metal box (called a coal box) onto the boat to be filled by hand then hoisted away. This was repeated several times until the boat was emptied. Coal haulers never received a diversity of other products to move along the canal, because everything got so covered by black soot.
1351-I understand that an "Icebreaker canal Boat" was invented to keep the channel opened during the winter months!! Also motorized canal boats were becoming very popular in the 20th century!!
Todd
1352-Tuesday, August 9th 1898.
The Massillon level of the Ohio Canal was refilled Monday night and Tuesday morning, and the famous old waterway is now navigable between Cleveland and Navarre. The repairs needed between this city and Canal Fulton and on the Navarre level have been made, though the work was made doubly difficult by the enormous sand bars formed by the recent heavy rains. People in Massillon were very glad to see the water again, for it has to some extent, dispelled the disagreeable odors that arose from the dry bed of the canal. At first, many predicted that half the town would soon be down with malaria or some other disease for which the canal would be responsible, but so far as is known, not a single case resulted, though the water was off for the best part of 10 days.
The work on the Bolivar aqueduct is being pushed as rapidly as possible, but 2 weeks will likely yet be required to complete all parts. In the meantime, navigation on that end of the canal will be suspended.
The towpath bridge, just north of Main St., has ceased to exist, and the boatmen are all thankful. The basin at the Morganthaler Mill is now fed by means of a short pipe. It has just been completed, passing under the towpath at the point where the bridge formerly stood. The bridge was then a necessity, as it spanned the water course by which the basin was kept filled.
George Snyder’s pleasure boat will leave John Fry’s dry docks tomorrow. The engine has removed from the craft, and it probably will not again be placed therein, as this part of the canal is too shallow and grassy to permit the proper workings of the screw (propeller). Mr. Schuster’s boat is in dry dock also. It has had a new deck constructed and has been given several coats of paint.
Story is from the Massillon Evening Independent, August 9, 1898.
1353--Many motorized boats began finding their way into the canal system around 1890, non-commercial freighters, but pleasure craft instead. They were unwelcome noisy and constantly stirred up the murky bottom. For the biggest part, they were stationed in the Portage Lakes and ran back and forth to Akron. To venture further south than Barberton was a bit risky, one may get stranded and not return to home port as intended. To venture past Navarre, was almost going into the land of no-return if travel was further than the Tuscarawas Aqueduct.
1354
If I am understanding Canal Historian correctly, the Ohio and Erie canal was a complete disaster by the beginning of the 20th century. Why did the state continue to pour money into this canal if it was so antiquated by 1900? Wouldn't the states money have been better spent improving, widening, and deepening the more viable, better designed, and still self supporting Miami and Erie canal on the western side of the state?
1354
1353-By the turn of the 20th century the Miami and Erie Canal has been defunct for several years. Its construction went years over the estimated date of its completion. The cost over-run was atrocious and the construction of many locks was cheap and hastily built from lumbar. The Miami and Erie was a complete failure by all means. It's hard to believe that so much wasted energy was applied towards the Ohio and Erie system in its closing hours as well. But if the state house was to select a canal system that stood a chance at resurrection, it wouldn't be the Miami & Erie with its transparent abundance of structural inefficiencies by comparison to the Ohio and Erie system, which even in its deteriorating condition was favorable to the Miami & Erie Canal. Plans were established to open the Ohio and Erie Canal to copy a working barge canal in New York by example, floating barges to the Ohio via the Muskingum from the Dresden outlet to Marietta using the newly rebuilt Muskingum Improvement. I have a hard time believing that who-ever listed the previous posting is so ignorant to these obvious facts when a decision had to be made to either use the Miami Canal versus the Ohio and Erie Canal for a lake Erie, - Ohio River connection.
Troy
1355---Who ever suggested the Miami and Erie Canal was profitable is surely hallucinating.
1356
I am far from being ignorant on the subject, nor am I hallucinating. One only needs to examine page 39 of the 1909 Annual report of the Ohio board of Public Works to see a table of canal receipts. The Miami and Erie generated more revenue for the state than the Ohio and Erie each and every year from 1880 through 1908. Often two to three times more. The Miami and Erie was much further removed from being defunct in 1900 than its eastern counterpart.
When it was completed in 1845, the Miami and Erie Canal spanned 249 miles and featured three feeder reservoirs along with a total of 103 locks to enable canal boats to drift smoothly along changing elevations. No locks were needed along the table-top level expanse of the Loramie Summit. For more than thirty years, the canal boats brought prosperity and waves of new immigrants to Fort Loramie and the other towns astride the canal channels. In a generation, the canals had transformed Ohio from a frontier backwater to a thriving agricultural center, but the next revolution in transportation would make the clunky canals obsolete.
The development of the railroads in the 1850s caused a gradual decline in canal traffic. The state of Ohio withdrew its support from the canal system in 1877, and the canal business slowed to a trickle. The canal infrastructure was neglected and began to decay, and flooding of the Great Miami River in 1913 damaged the canals beyond repair.
Troy
1858
To Troy- You really need to find something more substantial than that misinformation for your research. I referenced genuine state documents in my entry. Look them up. I certainly did not want to imply that the Miami and Erie canal was still profitable by 1900,just more viable as a candidate for upgrade such as the Erie canal in New York. A trip to the state archives housed at the OHS library in Columbus will likely change your position on this topic.
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