Ohio History Journal

THE OHIO CANAL

 

AN ACCOUNT OF ITS COMPLETION TO CHILLICOTHE

 

 

BY GEORGE PERKINS

About this time (1831) the news of the completion of

the Ohio Canal reached our village. This immense un-

dertaking was brought about by the lack of proper

means of transportation. The roads throughout the

state were primitive. The wagons that traversed them

were inadequate to transport products and needed goods,

and a universal sentiment was aroused for building a

canal. Uncle John Briggs and Samuel Probst, having

business in Chillicothe at the same time, concluded to

stay over and attend the exercises connected with the

opening of the canal as far as that point.

A short description of the canal from its first sugges-

tion to the completion may be in order. George Wash-

ington seems to have been the first to suggest a canal

from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, which he did in a

letter to the Governor of Virginia in 1784. The matter

was often brought up and talked over until the year

1822, when the Ohio Legislature passed a bill authoriz-

ing the Governor to employ an engineer and appoint a

board of commissioners to make examination, surveys

and estimates of the cost of constructing a canal. The

commissioners secured the services of James Geddes as

engineer. For three years surveys and examinations

were made. The commissioners then reported in favor

of beginning at once the building of the canal. Within

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a month, the Legislature by a large majority passed the

act entitled "An Act to provide for the Internal im-

provement of the State of Ohio by navigable Canals."

The board of commissioners was reorganized, con-

sisting of seven members, three of whom were desig-

nated as Acting Commissioners whose duty was to em-

ploy surveyors, agents and assistants, contract for work

of construction and superintend the construction of the

canal. Funds were supplied by grants, sale of stock,

etc.

The general government was appealed to and in re-

sponse 1,100,351 acres of land were granted for canal

use. This land was sold at two dollars per acre and the

proceeds used for the construction of the canal. A con-

dition of this grant was that no toll should ever be

charged the United States Government for use of the

canals. Soldiers were to be transported free in all wars

and the Potawatomie Indians were moved to their west-

ern reservation partly by way of the canal.

On July 4, 1825, the opening exercises were conducted

at Licking Summit, a few miles southwest of Newark.

Governor DeWitt Clinton and other distinguished men

from New York were present. The Chillicothe Blues

marched from that place to the Summit to take part in

the opening exercises which were as follows: Governor

Clinton received the spade, thrust it into the soil of Ohio

and raised the first spadeful of earth. Amidst the

shouts of the people present, this earth was placed in a

canal wheel-barrow. Then the spade was passed in suc-

cession to Governor Morrow of Ohio, Captain King and

others of the Clinton party who filled the barrow.

Thomas Ewing was the orator of the day. The speak-

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The Ohio Canal              599

er's stand was in the woods. After the addresses were

over, an abundant dinner was served and Governor

Clinton's health was drunk to the roar of the artillery

and rattle of small arms.

It is at this point, where the building of the canal be-

gan, that the great Licking Reservoir, embracing some

14,000 acres of land, is located. This was built by put-

ting in sheet piling and building a double wall of logs

on it. This reservoir covered a great extent of forest

land, the dead trees standing for many years in the

water. The canal was fed in both directions from this

great artificial lake. The heaviest work on the whole

line was done at this point, on the "Great Cut." Coming

south from the summit they had to dig for six miles

through the hills, an excavation of thirty feet in depth,

This great excavation had to be dug by human labor,

with mattock, shovel and wheel-barrow. They encoun-

tered a heavy, tough clay that was very difficult to handle,

It was a sight to see fifty of these barrow-men in line,

wheeling out their heavy loads, following a leader who

always kept them on a run.

Work was begun immediately after the opening, at

many places, but was pushed more rapidly in the north-

ern portion. Men came to work on the canal from dis-

tant counties as well as from those through which it was

to pass. Wages were at the beginning eight dollars per

month of twenty-six working days, from sunrise to sun-

set. Many farmers and their sons worked for this small

sum but it was paid in cash and cash was very scarce in

those days. But living expenses were low. Wheat sold at

25 cts., corn 12 1/2 cts. and oats at 10 cts. per bushel before

the canal was dug. After it was built wheat at towns

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along the canal rose to 75 cts. and other things in pro-

portion. Wages, however, did not long remain so low,

as the letting of the work on the Pennsylvania Canals in

1828 created a great demand for laborers.

The Ohio Canal extended from Cleveland to Ports-

mouth, a distance of 309 miles. Its width was 40 feet

at water line and 26 feet at the bottom, with an average

depth of four feet. The walls of the locks were of cut

stone masonry. The total cost of the canal was

$4,695,203. Just two years after the opening date the

first boat descended from Akron to Cleveland. Four

years later the first boats came down the canal as far

as Chillicothe. Arrangements were made for a grand

celebration of the entry of the first boats into this place.

It was on this occasion that Messrs. Briggs and

Probst made their visit to Chillicothe. The tedium of

the stage-coach ride was enlivened by tales of the War

of 1812 related by Mr. Probst who had been a fifer with

the American troops on the Canadian frontier. He de-

scribed the notes of his fife piercing the air as he and

the drummers enthusiastically cheered the American

troops at the battle of Lundy's Lane. The music of the

fife in that battle reduced to words ran thus:

Oh! the white cockade,

And the rifled gun,

Will make the British

Fly like fun.

On arriving at Chillicothe on October 22, 1831, our

travellers were astonished at the immense crowd as-

sembled to attend the opening ceremonies. Early in the

morning a salute was fired by the artillery at the north

end of Paint Street. After that, the Blues escorted Gov-

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The Ohio Canal             601

ernor McArthur into town. At ten o'clock the proces-

sion was formed, composed of the ladies of the town

and many visitors from other parts of the state. They

assembled at the Court House to make ready for a flag

presentation to the packet boat Dolphin, which was built

in Chillicothe. The flag was presented to Captain Wil-

liamson who, after thanking the ladies in a brief speech,

invited all who could get aboard his boat, the Dolphin,

and the General Worthington, both of which were built

here, to take a ride to the basin at the north end of town,

where they met the eight canal boats that had come

down the canal to take part in the celebration. After a

military salute and a speech by the mayor, the entire

fleet sailed into town in the following order: Dolphin,

General Worthington, Chillicothe, Monticello, Victory,

Canton, Lancaster, Athenian, Napoleon and Citizen.

Thus arranged, the boats, with more than five hundred

ladies and gentlemen aboard, with flags waving from

mastheads and delightful music, made their triumphal

entry into the town amid the cheering of over eight

thousand spectators who lined the banks of the canal

and filled the windows or covered the roofs of the build-

ings. The address was made by William Key Bond,

after which another flag was presented to the boat Chil-

licothe. A young lady made the presentation address

which was responded to by Captain Ulmer of the Chilli-

cothe. The captains of the fleet of boats invited the

people who could get aboard to take another ride from

one end of town to the other. After this the company

repaired to the market house where a dinner was served,

which perhaps for abundance and taste has never been

excelled. Among the rich viands at this dinner, and

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which added to its novelty, were two full grown deer

dressed whole and set on the table in the attitude of full

flight. The speeches and toasts lasted until four o'clock

when the guests were treated to another boat ride, pass-

ing the locks above town. At night the berm-bank of

the canal was illuminated by a row of candles, six feet

apart, from Walnut Street to Mulberry Street. There

was also an arch thrown across the head of Paint Street,

100 feet long and 30 feet high. The splendor and beauty

of this scene can be understood only by those who wit-

nessed it.

The canal from that time on continued to be the great

transportation facilities for the state of Ohio. The

farmers along its course conveyed their grain to distant

and better markets. In winter when the boats were ice-

bound the crew worked in the slaughter houses and their

boats were moored as near as possible, the men living

in them. At one time there were as many as eighty

boats tied up in Chillicothe for the winter.

Many anecdotes were related to the writer by captains

of the various boats -- how they struck snags or stuck

in the mud, sometimes taking days for release. One

prided himself on being the only person whose boat was

run over and cut in two by a railroad train. His boat

was passing through a point where an inclined plane led

from a coal mine above the canal. The engineer of the

loaded coal cars failed to see that the track was not clear,

started the cars down the incline and crashed into the

boat. All hands jumped in time but the boat was cut

in two and two mules were killed. Another captain told

of buying a load of chickens, which he intended to ship

to a point down the Ohio River. His boat was tied up

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The Ohio Canal              603

near the Jasper basin. Some one pulled off a board and

the entire lot of chickens (over 2,000) escaped and took

to the woods. It is said that chickens were found wild

in the woods for ten years afterward. At one time a

boat heavily laden with corn was passing down when a

heavy windstorm blew her against another boat, making

a hole in her side, spilling the corn off the deck and

drowning the cook who was below. Surely it was a

great shipwreck.

The horses made a stumble,

The driver gave a squall,

They went head over heals,

Into the raging canawl.

The canal was a busy place, the boats lining the wharf

at Water Street discharged and loaded much merchan-

dise. The rules governing the canal were very strict in

the early days. No one could place a dead animal in it

without incurring a heavy fine. No driving on the tow-

path, excepting towing the boat or carrying freight to

and fro was allowed. Boats were restricted to four

miles an hour. A fine was imposed for throwing hay

or manure from the boats into the channel, etc. One

boat, the Blue Bird, was called the Sunday boat, on ac-

count of its captain being a very religious man. He tied

up his boat at midnight on Saturday. On Sunday, if

no church was near, he held service on the boat. He

had as a driver a boy who being taunted one day by

another driver on a competing boat took the whip from

around his neck and "pitched into" the fellow.  The

result was that his boat entered the lock first. This boy,

Jimmy Garfield, became President of the United States.

The boatmen, as a class, were a rough, fighting set of

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604      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications men and many fights occurred among them. A few were musicians and at night the ears of the listeners were delighted with the bugle notes of "Suwanee River" or "Old Black Joe" as they floated through the darkness and were echoed up and down the river. The canal con- tinued to prosper until the railroads took away its business.  It was finally abandoned.  The last boat, stranded in the dry bed of the canal, was inhabited by its old captain, until falling into decay, it was declared a nuisance. The captain left for parts unknown and the "Duck" never swam again.

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