Ohio History Journal

THE ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF OHIO

 

 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

 

In the preparation of this paper, certain govern-

ment statistics, particularly the Report of the Census

for 1800, 1810, 1820, and 1830, and the Report on

Manufactures in the United States, 1832, have proved

especially valuable. Useful, too, have been the contem-

porary state histories, particularly Caleb Atwater's His-

tory of Ohio, Cincinnati, 1838; and the Farmers' Cen-

tennial History of Ohio, published at Columbus in 1903

by the State Board of Agriculture. The Publications

of the Archaeological and Historical Society of Ohio,

in many volumes, contain a wealth of secondary matter

for almost every aspect of state history. And four or

five other volumes, mentioned in the footnotes, have

been consulted but once. But by far the best single book

dealing with the period under discussion is Professor

Robert E. Chaddock's brilliant dissertation at Columbia,

1908, called Ohio Before 1850. Besides being the source

of much of the material on population, this scholarly

work has aided me greatly in obtaining the perspective

necessary to see clearly the changing trends in Ohio's

economic progress in the early years of the last century.

 

 

 

 

 

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THE ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF OHIO

1800-1840

 

BY PAUL W. STODDARD

 

The average citizen of Ohio in 1803, when the state

was admitted into the Union, was four-fifths farmer,

and one-fifth manufacturer. He struggled with the for-

est, and wrestled with bad roads. He had arrived in

the new country after a toilsome journey, but the rigors

of travel were as nothing to the loneliness which greeted

him--the nearest neighbor often miles away, and the

stillness broken only by the howl of the wolf or the wail-

ing of the whippoorwill. The house of the early settler

with its clapboard roof, its single room, its door swing-

ing upon wooden hinges, its window a patch of greased

newspaper stuffed between the logs, was sometimes fin-

ished at night on the spot where the trees had stood in

the morning.

But food, rather than shelter, was the greatest want

of the pioneers. The woods were full of game, to be

sure, but venison, turkey, and bearmeat became tiresome

enough after a time. There was no bread and little salt.

Indian corn, when once started, was the chief reliance

of man and beast. It was parched and ground by hand

or horse-power, then converted, by trade, into bacon,

pork, and whiskey. At Marietta, an ingenious appli-

cation of power was obtained by bracing a mill-wheel

between two boats anchored in the current of the Mus-

(176)

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The Economic Progress of Ohio       177

kingum River, thus forming a powerful mill-race with-

out a dam.¹ "The culture of maize," wrote an early

French writer,² "is nearly the only one which the early

inhabitants follow, and, although it is far from being

brought to perfection, and the land is still full of roots,

it is nevertheless so fertile that the stems rise ten or

twelve feet, and the annual produce is from twenty-five

to thirty quintals an acre. * * * . Nine-tenths of the

farmers use only maize bread. They make it into loaves

of eight or ten pounds weight, which they bake in cot-

tage-ovens, or into small cakes, baked on a plank before

the fire. The bread is generally eaten hot, and is not

much relished by those unaccustomed to it."

The furniture and dress of the people, because they

were almost entirely homemade, also partook of rustic

simplicity. Tables, cupboards, and benches were made

of the poplar and beech woods.  Bear and deer-skins

were used to some extent for clothing, but with the cul-

tivation of wool and flax, the spinning-wheel became a

standard article in every house. For dyestuffs the hulls

of the walnut and butternut and a root of bright yellow

first answered, but these were soon superseded by indigo,

which became almost the universal color for the hunting-

shirt and the wammus.    For many years the bright

clothes purchasable from eastern traders were unknown

in Ohio, and indeed it was not until the establishment

of a system of roads and canals that any eastern trade

invaded the State.

For in 1803 the average citizen of Ohio had few

roads, and still fewer bridges, mills, churches, and school

 

1 King, Ohio, (in American Commonwealths series), 299.

2 Michaux, Travels, 133.

Vol. XLI--12.

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178      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

houses. Until after the War of 1812, what few mails

reached the territory were carried on horseback, and

were often thoroughly wetted in the streams as the

horses stumbled in crossing. Iron and salt were ex-

cessively dear, and not easily obtained. Meat was al-

most the only article really cheap in price; deer were

sold for less than a dollar, and wild turkeys for twelve

and a half cents each.³ The farmer had little money,

to be sure. "Many of the pioneers had spent their for-

tunes in maintaining the War for Independence, and

had retired to the wilderness to conceal their poverty."4

But on the other hand, money was needed for few pur-

poses, since, as has been seen, the farmer was also a

manufacturer, and his farm was almost self-sufficient--

an independent economic unit.

During the next thirty-five years, so many changes

in the economic and social life of Ohio came about that

by 1840 a new order had almost entirely superseded the

old. It should be realized, however, that during this

same period the agricultural changes in the State ran

side by side with the economic. The emphasis of this

article upon the latter aspect should not conceal the fact

that in 1840 Ohio was far greater agriculturally than

in 1800. Ohio was primarily a farming community

until after the Civil War. But it is our purpose here

to discuss only the commercial and economic development

of the State during the early years of the century. A

part of this development was due to the increase in

population, and the metamorphosis of that population;

part of it could be accounted for by the discovery and

 

3 Atwater, C., A History of the State of Ohio, 168.

4 Farmers' Centennial History of Ohio, 1803-1903, 9.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio      179

exploitation of the natural resources of the State; still

another part might be credited to the unfolding of the

internal improvement system in the decade following

1835. But all of these things were so closely bound up

together, and so much dependent upon one another, that

it is really impossible to separate them into their com-

ponent parts. The population increased, largely because

of the discovery of the State's resources; the roads,

canals, and railroads came into existence as a result of

the need for transporting the products of the soil and

mines, and as a result of the increase in population.

But, at any rate, all of these factors played their part

in the development of Ohio in the early years.

The political history of Ohio during this period,

taken by itself, was not of great importance. The chief

event, of course, was the War of 1812 with Great Brit-

ain, touching Ohio intimately, to be sure, but of rela-

tively short duration, as compared with the Revolution

of thirty years before. The exciting Presidential cam-

paigns of 1824, 1828, and 1832 were of momentary im-

portance. So was the temporary establishment in the

state of the new Mormon Church. So was the boundary

dispute between Ohio and Michigan. But all of these

must be passed over rapidly in favor of the far more

momentous economic changes taking place at the same

time; for example, the increase in population.

According to the census of 1800, "all the land north-

west of the Ohio River" contained 45,365 people.⁵ By

1810, the number, now including only the State of Ohio,

had increased to 230,760; and in 1820 to 581,484. Ten

5 U. S. Census Office, Report of the Second Census, 1800, 2Q.

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180      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

years later the population amounted to nearly a million.⁶

In 1800, Ohio had ranked eighteenth among the states and

territories; in 1840, with a total of 1,519,487, it ranked

third, a standing kept for fifty years. Where had these

people come from? In the first place, the farming class

in the interior of the South began to be displaced by

the planter. Many small farmers preferred to avoid the

competition with slave labor, so they moved on into Ken-

tucky and then across the Ohio River. It was, therefore,

the poorer, more democratic, non-slave-holding class of

the South which furnished the bulk of settlers from

below the Ohio.⁷ The influence of the Scotch-Irish was

also very marked; they came mostly from Virginia and

Pennsylvania. Many Germans migrated to Cincinnati

because of the industrial opportunities there which were

just beginning to be recognized. Quakers from Vir-

ginia and the Carolinas came also, largely to seek the

religious freedom which was denied them in the coastal

states. As early as 1801, the Governor of Ohio, in his

annual message to the Legislature, noted the fact that

many Quakers had lately come to the State, and charac-

terized them as industrious, sober, and moral people, a

valuable acquisition to any country^71/2. And, finally, set-

tlers from New England were present in considerable

numbers.

In addition to the increase and change in population,

another factor of supreme importance was the discovery

and exploitation of the natural resources of the State.

As has been said, agriculture was the first great industry

 

6 U. S. Census Office, Report of the Fifth Census, 1830, 18, 19, 143.

7 Chaddock, R. E., Ohio Before 1850, 30-46.

7 1/2 The St. Clair Papers, Vol. II, 535.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio      181

in Ohio for two reasons; first, this was the occupation

to which most of the early settlers had been accustomed;

and, secondly, the climate was suitable, and the soil, com-

posed of glacial till, was, in many places, of excellent

richness. But soon other natural wealth was discov-

ered, and mining and manufacturing on a considerable

scale began. Coal, for example, was found as early as

1679, and mentioned by practically all early writers on

Ohio, but apparently no active mining was done until

after 1820. The iron deposits were found nearly always

in the vicinity of the coal, and for many years, the chief

use of the latter was to supply fuel in running the iron

furnaces. The demand for coal, however, was not very

great until the rise of the factory system, for Ohio's

deposits were nearly all of the bituminous variety. The

first accurate output was recorded in 1872; namely,

5,315,294 short tons.⁸ But, in general, it can be said

that coal did not loom large in the development of Ohio

in the 'twenties and 'thirties, except as it was used in

connection with other minerals.

As far as iron is concerned, however, a far different

story can be told. The iron deposits of the State were

thought at first to be tremendous, and undoubtedly at-

tracted many settlers to the new country. Phillips, in his

Cutler Map of Ohio, mentioned that iron had been dis-

covered about 1770 by an unnamed English engineer

and explorer.⁹ The first furnace was built in 1808,

within ten years after the settlement of that region, at

the mouth of Yellow Creek on the Mahoning, by Clen-

 

8 Encyclopedia Brittanica, XX, 26.

9 Phillips, Cutler Map of Ohio, 34.

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182      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

dening, Montgomery, and Mackay10. The Report of

the Fourth Census in 182011 mentioned only three fur-

naces, one each in Columbiana, Trumbull, and Mus-

kingum Counties, the three producing 1,187 tons with

a total value of $109,090. There were, however, twen-

ty-four naileries, producing 39,000 tons valued at

$64,723; and one bloomery, producing fifty tons of ma-

terial worth $9,400. But at the date of the publication

by the government of the Documents Relative to Manu-

factures in the United States, 1832, a great many fur-

naces had started operations, and were actively pro-

ductive, although, for the most part on a very small

scale. An air foundry in Zanesville was established in

1818 and produced 150 tons of castings annually; a

cupola furnace in Columbus produced 120 tons of cast-

ings a year; another in Dayton three tons a week, worth

$100 a ton. The Phoenix Foundry in Cincinnati was

established in 1825, employed thirty men, paid $12,000

in wages, and produced five hundred tons of castings.

The Granville Furnace in Licking County, the Marble

Furnace in Adams County, and the Mary Ann Furnace

in Licking County together employed 250 men and 200

oxen and horses, and produced castings and pigs to the

extent of over $50,000. Five other forges and furnaces

were mentioned in the report, the author giving their

capital stock, the value of the product, and the number

of men employed.12 The number of furnaces increased

gradually until about 1880, but in 1904 the product had

dropped to 20,585 tons, and today it is almost negligible

 

10 Whittlesey, C., History of the Coal and Iron Business, 5.

11 U. S. Census Office, Fourth Census, 1820, 115--120.

12 U. S., Manufacturers in the United States, 1832, 863-5.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio          183

--the end of a story of an industry which flourished for

a while but has been almost forgotten.

Of the other products of the earth, salt was perhaps

the one of greatest economic value.13 Crevecoeur men-

tioned salt pits in 1782,14 Cutler in 1787,15 and the salt

works at Scioto played a prominent part in Cutler's

Topographical Description of the State of Ohio (1812),

being at that time apparently well developed. In the

1820 Census Report, it was said that various salt works

in Columbiana, Scioto, and Muskingum Counties were

producing a total of 24,000 bushels of salt a year, to

the value of $24,000.16   Since the Report on Manu-

factures in 1832 did not consider the purification of salt

in its especial province, no comparison can be made.

But it must have been an expensive and a by no means

profitable enterprise, for the wells were sunk thirty feet

into the ground, and after the water had been raised to

the surface, it was so weak that from ten to fifteen gal-

lons were required to make a pound of salt. The salt

was then transferred from the kettle in which it was

boiled, to the backs of the pack-horses, carried to the

various settlements, and sold at prices as low as one

dollar a bushel.

Proceeding to the other manufactures of Ohio, in

the first two or three decades of the nineteenth century,

it is found that the total value of the industrial products

of the state was about one-fourth that of the agricul-

 

13 In 1814, an oil well was found near Caldwell, Ohio, but as the parties

were hunting salt water, and not oil, the well was filled up. [Farmer's Cen-

tennial History of Ohio, 1803-1903, 61].

14 Crevecoeur, Letters of an American Farmer, III, 394.

15 Phillips, Cutler Map of Ohio, 28.

16 U. S. Census Office, Report of the Fourth Census, 115-120.

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184      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

tural products, a fact on which was based the statement

made at the beginning of this article, that the typical

Ohio citizen was four-fifths farmer and one-fifth manu-

facturer. Many of the products were made directly

on the farms. Others were produced in small com-

munity buildings which hardly deserved the name of

factories. Only a few were made in the organized

workshop as we know it today. The chief products

were flax, cotton and woolen goods, paper, silk, maple

sugar, gunpowder, and whiskey. In 1820, cotton goods

(in families) amounted to 56,072 yards, or $43,660, an

average of about 76 cents a yard. Only two cotton fac-

tories had been established on that date, but there were

over ten thousand private looms, 768 spindles, and

eighteen cording machines. Flaxen goods amounted to

1,093,000 yards, or $425,149, an average of about forty

cents a yard, all produced in private families. Woolen

goods were produced to the extent of 93,074 yards,

worth $1.20 a yard, or $112,485. But during this period

only 10,000 pounds of material of any kind was pro-

duced in mills, and that only in Hamilton and Ross

Counties.17 Flax, it will be noticed, was a crop of ex-

treme importance at this time. "It was sown, cleaned,

pulled, rotted, broken, swingled, hatcheled, spun, and

woven in the home, made into linen for the household,

and into summer garments for the men and boys." The

fibre was also manufactured into paper. Flaxseed oil,

to produce which four mills were in operation in 1820,

was a valuable by-product for a great many years, until

the coming of cottonseed oil caused a decline in its eco-

nomic value. About four thousand gallons a year was

17 U. S. Census Office, Report of the Fourth Census, 115-120.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio     185

the usual production. Silk was not so important. Silk

manufacturing companies were organized in Franklin,

Portage, Belmont, and Montgomery Counties, and about

1840, fifty thousand bushels of cocoons were raised an-

nually in the valley of the Ohio.

The other products were perhaps of considerably less

value.  In 1832 there were eight paper-mills in the

Miami country, two of which were in Cincinnati. About

$120,000 worth of writing and news-print paper were

manufactured each year; 160 people were employed; and

the wages varied from $1.25 per week for girls to $6.50

a week for able-bodied men. Six gunpowder mills man-

ufactured 12,850 pounds, worth $7,350; this, of course,

was a product in great demand during the early days

of the settlements and apparently netted considerable

profit. The manufacture of flour was an early industry,

and in 1814 a nine-story steam flour-mill was erected in

Cincinnati, so that, a year later, large quantities of flour

and Indian meal were exported to the West Indies.l⁸ A

glass factory was built in Cincinnati in 1815, and win-

dow-glass and hollow-ware were produced in 1820.

There, too, the manufacture of furniture began at an

early date, and in 1815, mahogany was brought from

Central America to be transformed into tables, chairs,

and bureaus. Maple sugar appears to have been an

exceedingly valuable product, also, and large quantities

of it were exported. According to the Census Report

in 1820, it was made everywhere in Ohio, and the total

value of the 3,023,806 pounds manufactured was $302,-

280. And, last of all, whiskey was regarded as so much

of a staple that 343 distilleries were in operation in

18 Farmer's Centennial History of Ohio, 1803-1903, 104.

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186      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

1832, and thirteen breweries, producing about 1,300,000

gallons of liquors of various kinds, which seem to have

been worth six hundred thousand dollars.

But for the industrial development of a state like

Ohio, mere discovery and exploitation of the natural

resources is not sufficient. The goods manufactured

must be transported; and materials necessary for the

existence of an increasing population must be brought

in. During the years from 1800 to 1840, four methods

of transportation in and about Ohio were commenced

and expanded; namely, highways, canals, rivers, and

railroads. In practically no case did the development

of these facilities begin in the State; they originated

elsewhere, and found their way westward gradually. It

was through these common carriers that new inhabi-

tants were enabled to come to Ohio in such large num-

bers; and, of course, with the trade which these same

facilities brought, there came increased economic pros-

perity for the State.

Look first at the highways. The first great division

of internal improvements, by which Ohio was opened

to the outside world, was the system of highways cen-

tering around the "National Road." The first continu-

ous road through the State was "Zane's Trace," com-

mencing on the Ohio shore opposite Wheeling and pro-

ceeding in a southwesterly direction to a point opposite

Maysville, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. An overland

route was needed because settlers had pushed up tribu-

tary streams fifty miles from the Ohio, and these set-

tlements must be connected by a great through highway

in order to open up what was then the garden spot of

the State. Zane's Road, begun in 1796, became a prime

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The Economic Progress of Ohio     187

factor in the development of Ohio. It determined the

location of homes, taverns, and villages. Where it

crossed the Muskingum by ferry, Zanesville grew up,

with Lancaster at the Hocking, and Chillicothe at the

Scioto. Post-offices were soon established and in 1815,

Ross County had 18,000 inhabitants, excelled only by

the river county of Hamilton.

With the growth of trade between the rapidly de-

veloping agricultural west and the eastern markets,

there appeared the great need for a well-built turnpike

from the coast to this great storehouse in the interior.

Washington had seen, as early as 1784, that the trade

of this valuable western country was about to slip away

down the river to the Spaniards. He at once advocated

opening ways of communication as a "link in the chain

of union." For this reason, therefore, provision was

made, when Ohio was admitted into the Union, that a

five per cent fund, derived from the sale of public lands

within the State, should be set aside for the building

of roads. It was later decided that three per cent be

used for common highways, and that the rest be em-

ployed in the construction of a great national highway

from tide-water to Ohio. By 1805 a considerable sum

had already been accumulated for this enterprise.

Routes were considered by a committee, the one from

Cumberland to Wheeling was recommended, and Con-

gress authorized this first road on a large scale. Work

was commenced in 1811, and Ohio had accomplished its

aim, for the pike was completed to the Ohio River at

Wheeling in 1818. The land route was now complete,

because of the connection with Zane's Road, between

the East and the fertile eastern Mississippi Valley.

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188      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Hosts of emigrants were en route toward the West.

Cabins beside the Pike became taverns, villages became

cities, as the tide of population moved forward. The

Cumberland National Road became the "nation's high-

way."

Mail came in eight days from Baltimore before the

road was opened; in 1832, it came by stage to Wheeling

in forty-eight hours. In 1837, the government required

by contract that the mail trip from Washington to Co-

lumbus, by stage, be made in forty-five and a half hours,

and to Wheeling in thirty hours. In 1835 stages left

Columbus daily for Wheeling, Springfield, and Cincin-

nati, while those going north made the trip to Cleveland

and Sandusky every second day. Gates were placed and

tolls were collected, wherewith to keep the road in re-

pair. "So the network of highways was extending over

the State and the facilities of stage-coach and tavern

tended to promote travel and draw the State together

as a unit. Mobility of population in the end was sure

to modify the sectionalism that was inevitable as long

as the settlements remained isolated."19

A second means of communication lay in the canals.

The effect of the Erie Canal, in the first place, was very

great indeed. An entirely new population began to come

from the North Atlantic States, and new commercial

areas were opened up. This, in turn, stimulated the

western states to open up the interior of the country by

canals, in order that they might profit by the Erie water-

way to the East.²⁰ With its relatively dense population,

its proximity to the Erie Canal, the Lake front, the

 

¹⁹ Chaddock, R. E., Ohio Before 1850, 20.

20 Semple, E. C., American History and Its Geographic Conditions, 270.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio      189

navigable Ohio, and the East in general, the State of

Ohio could well afford to spend a considerable sum in

the building of new canals. The matter began to be agi-

tated in 1819, but it was between 1825 and 1835 that

the greatest development took place. The Miami Canal,

66 miles long, connecting Cincinnati with Dayton, was

commenced in 1826 and finished in 1833. In that year

also, the Ohio Canal, 309 miles in length, was finished

from Portsmouth, on the Ohio, to Cleveland. The en-

tire system was finished in 1842, at a total cost of nearly

fifteen million dollars. This comprehended 658 miles

of canals proper, or 796 miles, if navigable slack water,

feeders, side-cuts, and reservoirs be reckoned. The en-

gineer was James Geddies of New York, who, in eight

months in 1822, surveyed a distance amounting to nine

hundred miles, with the purpose of finding a suitable

route for the new waterways. Each of the two chief

canals had a minimum breadth of forty feet, with a

four-foot depth of water, although in many places on

the Ohio Canal, both of these dimensions were exceeded.

The business done during the first years of operation

showed a tremendous increase over that of the previous

decade. For a period of twenty-five years after 1830,

45,000,000 bushels of wheat, 52,000,000 bushels of corn,

16,000,000 barrels of flour, 50,000,000 bushels of coal,

and 51,000,000 pounds of pork were exported from Ohio

and 586,014,816 pounds of various kinds of merchandise

passed inland.²¹ In 1822 the total capital invested in

manufactures was four million dollars; in 1850 it had

grown to $28,000,000, with Hamilton, one of the canal

counties, ranking first. The canals brought about the

21 History of the Ohio Canals, 133.

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190      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

early development of the salt supply in the counties in

the southeastern part of the State, and permitted the

opening of the coal mines by offering cheap transporta-

tion. Iron manufacture was stimulated by the improved

transportation which made it possible to secure the raw

materials and ship cheaply the bulky products. And

finally, the density of population in the canal counties

in 1840, was forty-five per square mile, whereas in the

rest of the State it was only thirty-seven.

The canals, then, stimulated industry, developed the

great resources of the State, increased the value of the

land and property along their courses, and invited new

capital. They lifted Ohio, as it were, into a new sphere.

They opened to her farmers and merchants, the markets

of the Ohio, the lakes, and New York. They opened

intercourse with the northern and northwestern portions

of the State, built up Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, and

many lesser cities, thus tending to unite a long sepa-

rated people as well as to make them prosperous. They

brought a large accession of population and capital, and

gave the State a name and character throughout the

country of which her sons justly began to be proud.

"For thirty years," says Ryan,22 "these waterways were

the great controlling factor of increasing commerce,

manufactures, and population. The newly found mar-

kets for farm produce added fifty per cent. to their

prices, enlarging the field of agriculture, and bringing

wealth to the State by its extension."

Not of such vital interest as the canals, perhaps, but

in close relation thereto, nevertheless, were the boats

used in river transportation. The first flatboat, travel-

22 Ryan, History of Ohio, 96.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio      191

ing at three miles per hour, had sailed for New Orleans

in 1782. It was one hundred feet long, eighteen feet

wide, and eight feet deep, drawing four feet of water.

The eight men of the crew manned the boat, during a

trip that occupied three months in the beginning, but

by 1840 had been reduced to only one. Corn, pork, pota-

toes, and the inevitable whiskey were the articles trans-

ported, though later on wheat, apples, crockery, glass,

lumber, and particularly salt were carried. The first

schoolhouse in Cincinnati came on a flatboat, and for

fifty years this was the chief method of transportation

on the river.²³ In 1811 the first steamboat in western

waters passed down the Ohio River. It was a "side-

wheeler," built at Pittsburgh by Nicholas J. Roosevelt

of New York, an agent of Fulton, and was called the

New Orleans. It passed Cincinnati on October 27, and

came to Louisville on October 28. The Cincinnati news-

paper, Liberty Hall, in its issue of Wednesday, October

30, 1811, added a small note to its commercial and ship-

ping news:

"On Sunday last, the steamboat lately built at Pitts-

burgh passed this town at 5 o'clock in the afternoon in

fine stile [sic], going at the rate of about 10 or 12 miles

an hour."

The water was too low to allow passage over the

falls, so to prove that it could navigate against the cur-

rent, the boat made several trips between Louisville and

Cincinnati, until the water rose to a sufficient height.

Then the New Orleans proceeded to Natchez, arriving

there in December; subsequently it plied as a regular

23 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, XXVI, 78; XX, 378.

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192      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

packet between Natchez and New Orleans for several

years.

A number of other boats were built at Pittsburgh,

the Comet, Aetna, and Vesuvius. Later they were con-

structed at Brownsville, and finally at Cincinnati; in

1826, it was estimated that there had been 233 steam-

boats plying their trades in western waters, of which

143 were still in existence. But the beginning of the

steamboat trade for passengers and freight was a rec-

ord of many disheartening circumstances. Contrary to

what one might expect, for many years after the advent

of the steamboat, the old and slow method of carrying

freight on flatboats and keels increased, since it was

cheaper and considered surer. This lack of confidence,

however, was only one of the obstacles. The river bed

was uneven, and dotted with dangerous snags, gravel

and sand-bars, not to mention the falls at Louisville.

Gradually, however, the river bed was cleared, and, after

a long hard fight for a canal, one was eventually put

through, and the river trade, still existing, traveled rap-

idly to its zenith before the advent of railroads turned

channels of trade in other directions.

And so, last of all came the railroads. In 1832 there

were 229 miles of road-bed in the United States. A

charter was granted in 1832 for the building of a road

from Dayton to Sandusky, a distance of 156 miles. The

State loaned $200,000 and each county subscribed

$25,000 to $60,000 to this enterprise.24 In 1836 the

Kalamazoo and Erie Railroad was completed. For a

year this transportation line was operated by horse-

power, but in 1837, railroad locomotives were intro-

24 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, IX, 189.

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The Economic Progress of Ohio      193

duced, and in the same year, the United States mail was

brought into Ohio by rail for the first time. In March,

1837, the Legislature passed an act authorizing credit by

the State to new railroad companies, an act soon popu-

larly known as "plunder law." It provided for a loan

of credit to a corporation to the amount of half the

money expended in actual construction, or in the pur-

chase of lands for the use of the corporation, but it was

construed to apply to the purchase of land for the pur-

pose of speculation and even fraud. So it came about

that, despite the obvious benefits to be derived from the

construction of railroads there were many people who

opposed their building and operation continually, and

to whom even the word "railroad" was anathema.

With the exploitation of the natural resources of

Ohio, and the development of various aspects of the

internal improvement system--highways, canals, river-

boats, and railroads--came an increase in commerce,

and a corresponding change in the character of the

population. Exports of Ohio were sent to all corners

of the globe, and products from all corners of the globe

were sent into Ohio. Pork, wheat, corn and flour; coal

and iron; manufactured goods of many kinds were

shipped out. English goods, landing in New York, paid

for the pork and wheat of the West. Furs came from

the North, sugar and cotton from the South, leather and

cloth from the East. "We feed our eastern brethren,"

wrote one writer, in 1838,25 "and they clothe us. This

trade and commerce, this interchange of productions

keep up a constant intercourse between men; render

them active, enterprising and industrious; promote their

 

25 Atwater, C., History of the State of Ohio, 312.

Vol. XLI--13.

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194      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications health, comfort, and happiness. This constant inter- course is a bond of union, which may no one ever burst asunder. Mutual intercourse produces mutual depend- ence, mutual profit, and mutual friendship. May these forever be continued to us and our posterity, to our eastern brethren, and to their descendants." When 1840 dawned, the average citizen of Ohio was still primarily engaged in agricultural pursuits. But the growth of trade had stimulated intercourse and commerce to such an extent that he was no longer the isolated pioneer, existing with his family in his log cabin and recently cultivated farm, dependent on no one but himself for food, clothing, and pastime. Instead he was a compo- nent part of a community, linked together with his fel- lows by bonds of many kinds, self-sufficient only in a very limited sense, and on the whole, distinctly different from the settler of a generation before. He was a new citizen of Ohio. And Ohio had reached the market stage in her civilization.

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