Ohio History Journal

FINE TIMBER

 

By JOSEPHINE E. PHILLIPS

 

I went to woork a tuseday morning for Mr. Gilman at 12 Shilings pr

day he is a bulding 2 Ships and thare top timbers are all red seder and lokes

I have worked wales 68 feet long fine timber in this Countery and as good

land as Ever lay out adors I dont think I shall Stay in the Sittey maney

months Ales is the wellest she has bin this five years but dont like Meriette.

... thank God i am well and hartey But Alles is Cros as yousyell.

Thus wrote a settler newly-arrived in the Northwest Terri-

tory, in the spring of 1801, to his home folks back in the "State

of Rhodisland." Perhaps Alice had her reasons for being as cross

as usual, for in a letter which she wrote to her mother, she said:

"I have had to part with some of my childrens close & some of

my dishes since I comb. . . . we have not had any tea for three

months only what we borrowed, and we cant by a paper of pins

nor a grane of snuff to save our Lives." However that may be,

the indications are that there was, indeed, "fine timber in this

countery;" timber fine, especially, for shipbuilding.

As early as 1770, Lord Hillsborough, secretary of state for

the Department of America, reported to Parliament:

No part of North America has less need of encouragement in order to

furnish rigging for ships, and the raw materials destined for Europe, and to

furnish to the West India Islands building materials, provisions, etc., than

the Ohio Country....

The Ohio River is navigable at all seasons of the year for large boats.

... It is possible to construct large vessels upon it and send them to the

ocean, loaded with hemp, iron, flax, silk, tobacco, cotton, potash, etc. Flour,

wheat, beef, planks for shipbuilding and other things not less useful can

descend the Ohio to Western Florida and go thence to the West India

Islands more cheaply and in better condition than the same merchandise can

be sent from New York or Philadelphia to the same islands.

This was more in the nature of an optimistic forecast than

a statement of fact. As though in recognition of this Hillsborough

continued in the future tense:

When the farmers who dwell upon the Ohio set about providing for

transportation they will build vessels of all kinds . . . or, as they will have

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FINE TIMBER                       17

 

black walnut, cherry, oak, etc. sawed ready for foreign commerce, they will

make of them rafts in the same manner as is practiced by those who live

about the headwaters of the Delaware in Pennsylvania, on which they will

put their hemp, their iron, their tobacco, etc. and with which they will go

to New Orleans.

To be sure, neither tobacco, hemp, silk, flax or cotton was

being raised in appreciable quantity at that time. But the timber

for shipbuilding was growing. Huge white oak and sycamore

trees gained diameter year by year. Black walnut trees flourished

along the river banks, their wood valuable because it was solid

and tough, and it was said that the sea-worm would not attack a

vessel built of it. There were ash trees, for oars and long sweeps;

cherry, for boards and trimming; hickory and poplar, besides the

red cedar and locust -- "red seder and lokes" -- for top timbers

and wales.

When the War for Independence was over, and land quarrels

adjusted, the great Territory North West of the River Ohio was

thrown open for settlement. The first-comers were a group of

forty-eight mechanics, carpenters, laborers, most of them veteran

officers and soldiers of the war, and now under the leadership of

General Rufus Putnam. On April seventh, 1788, they manoeuvred

their clumsy "Adventure Galley" out of the waters of the Ohio,

around the point opposite Fort Harmar, and onto the east bank

of the Muskingum River. They were greeted by soldiers of the

fort, by a few Indians who were in for trading and treaty-making,

and by the personnel of this mighty forest. It was the forest that

had first to be dealt with.

By the first of June, enough ground had been cleared so that

a great cornfield of one hundred and twenty acres was ready for

planting. Black walnut, hickory, oak, all must feel axe and fire

if the projected settlement was to come into existence. But such

wholesale destruction of fine timber was not in accord with the

enterprising Yankees' ideas of thrift. Of necessity and design, a

number of the pioneers soon turned to boat-building in their spare

time.

They had come from the seacoast towns of New England.

They had seen woodlands where tall pines for masts grew, pre-

served from felling by the mark of the broad arrow of the Crown.

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18    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Some of them, as boys, had seen mast-fleets, off the coast of

Maine, weigh anchor and sail England-ward. Many had watched

the long lines of ox teams plod over the snow, hauling to the

shore for launching a vessel that had been built a mile or two

inland, where the forest-timbers were handier. They knew boat-

building, and boats were needed.

The river was the great highway, those days. To communi-

cate with the fort, just across the Muskingum, they must have

boats; and to carry the Ohio Company's surveyors down the

river, and to move those families that wished to push on and

establish the new little villages of Belle Prairie and Waterford,

more boats. Two boats, even, were used to accommodate a float-

ing-mill, an ingenious arrangement whereby, in a country of few

waterfalls frisky enough to turn a wheel, the slow current of the

Ohio or the Muskingum could be made to furnish power for

grinding the settlers' corn.

For all these, material was at hand, and boat-building began

in earnest. Rumor of the opportunities for speculation in this

industry reached a merchant of Norwich, Connecticut--or per-

haps he had read Lord Hillsborough's report, of eighteen years

before. "How far can a Vessel of a Hundred Tons get up the

Ohio?" inquired Dudley Woodbridge of his brother-in-law, James

Backus, at Marietta, in December, 1788.

Are materials for Ship building plenty and good, such as White Oak,

Pine etc. Is the Navigation down the River safe and good. What is the

demand for goods. What are the remittances that will be made, cash or

produce. If produce, what kind and the prices. In short I should be very

glad of a particular & Minute information with regard to what does now

and may relate to the Merchantile Line, that part especially which relates to

Navigation, Viz: Building, Loading & Kind of Cargo.

The reply was favorable enough so that Woodbridge came on

with his family and set up a little store. His plans for shipbuild-

ing were, however, interrupted. From 1791 to 1795 Indian depre-

dations were such that commercial enterprises of all sorts had to

be abandoned. The settlers were confined to activities that could

be carried on within the "Campus Martius" stockade, at the

"Picketed Point," or in "Farmers' Castle."

When Wayne's victory and the treaty which followed freed

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FINE TIMBER                        19

 

them, the inhabitants of this new country adventured forth and

began to clear more ground. Soon they were raising more hogs

and more wheat and more corn than they could possibly consume

or find market for at home. With the turn of the century, matters

looked so promising that Woodbridge wrote another letter about

the "Merchantile Line, that part especially which relates to Navi-

gation," this time to Doherty & Gray, of New Orleans:

We would wish your opinion respecting the sale of Hulls of Vessels

at New Orleans.... Vessels of handsome models and good workmanship

from 90 to 240 Tons may be built at this place so far complete as follows,

Viz: the Hull and Cabin finished and painted . . . the spars made, 2 kedges

with hawsers and one or more boats according to the size of the Vessel.

The Freight which could be had for a Vessel from this place to New

Orleans would more than pay the expence of taking one down the river,

indeed we have no doubt but vessels of the sizes mentioned would be de-

livered at N. Orleans for 26 Dolls. pr Ton.

Early in the fall of 1800 an ocean-going vessel was on the

stocks of the local boat-builder, a few miles up the Muskingum.

Woodbridge had with him in the enterprise a number of friends,

including the famous Harman Blennerhassett, at that time partner

of his son, Dudley Woodbridge, Jr.

All too little has been told of the career of Blennerhassett

as a business man. One hears of his coming to the Ohio country,

a dashing young Irishman, purchasing for $4500 half an island

that had cost its owner $833 a few years before; and of his build-

ing there an elegant mansion. One hears of his complicity in the

Burr Conspiracy, of his trial and the loss of his home, and that he

died in poverty, if not in disgrace. Yet the true story of Blenner-

hassett has never been written. The importance of the part he

played in the development of this first-settled corner of the North-

west Territory, can hardly be overestimated.

He brought ready cash and a solid account in the British

Funds with a Philadelphia brokerage house, at a time when hard

money was scarce and most transactions were carried on by barter,

by bear skins, by bucks and does, or by the even more precarious

exchange and reckonings in Virginia Currency, Pennsylvania Cur-

rency, New York Currency, Legal Tender and--sometimes--

gold nuggets, e. g.:

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20    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

James Brown, Credit. By 2 pieces gold which we sent back and he

returned them after getting Genl. Putnam to weigh them we took upon

condition our being able to pass them. 4" 7 wt. 3.75$

1"¹⁸ wt. 1.55

5.30$

Blennerhassett, upon entering into agreement with Wood-

bridge in 1798, ordered a whole shipload of goods from London

and a cargo of crockery from Liverpool, to stock the little store

in Marietta. He engaged local labor to plan and build his mansion

on the island. Except for glass from Geneva and fine furniture

from Baltimore, he used local materials. Money flowed freely

where before there had been none. He advanced cash so that the

settlement physician was able to secure medicines from the East

and abroad, to augment the supply of homegrown herbs and home-

made salves. Margaret Blennerhassett brought over the mountains

vaccine matter, and herself vaccinated the children of the vicinity.

The Blennerhassetts bought books--and loaned them freely.

They gave dances and teas and less formal affairs. "Mrs. B. begs

of you to invite Mrs. E. Sproat to her what do you call it," wrote

Blennerhassett. Tradition has it that there were many what-do-

you-call-it's on the Blennerhassett social calendar. And the gentler

folk of Marietta and Belpre and Wood County, Virginia, were

hungry for a taste of the social life they had known back East.

It is natural that Blennerhassett was ready at once to help

with the projected shipbuilding. Under date of November 8, 1800,

he wrote: "Please say by first opportunity whether I can have

freight for from 200 to 300 Barrels, or what other Quantity, of

Indian meal, and upon what terms on my own account in the

Vessel ?"

From now until the following spring, there appear many

entries in the "Waist-Book" of "D. Woodbridge, Jr. & Co." which

relate to the venture:

Schooner, Dr.      1 broom

Schooner, Dr. 1/2 pound Chalk

177 1/4 pound Hemp

1 Barrel Tar  to Schooner.

139 feet Cherry Boards  "

Brig, 11 crocks of lard, fry pan, 1 pitcher, 1 doz plates

Abraham Whipple          1 pr. Mittings

"   "                 1 Wool Hatt

Spectacles to A.Whipple

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FINE TIMBER                        21

 

Much of the success of the undertaking would depend upon

the handling of the ship, once it was built. Woodbridge gave

thought to this matter early. In reply to his request for informa-

tion, his brother Samuel wrote to him from Norwich:

Octo. 1, 1800

I have made inquiry respecting a smart active man to take the Charge

of your Vessel. Those that are good are Enormous in their terms. For

instance, $30 pr Month & Expenses found till they sail, then monthly wages

and 10 pr ct. Commission for Selling Cargo & Vessel . . . and wages to

continue untill he is discharged at Marietta. All which Expenses is more

than an Atlantic Voyage can afford to pay. Have not found anyone that

would engage better than this, that was trustworthy.

Under these circumstances the owners were fortunate to

have close at hand an able old sea-dog worthy of the honor of

successfully conducting to sea the first ocean-going vessel built

on the Ohio, initiating thereby an industry that flourished re-

markably for seven years. Abraham Whipple is a name familar

to all lovers of the romantic and picaresque in American naval

history. As a mere youth during the French and Indian Wars,

he brought in a fleet of sixty prizes on a single voyage in a pri-

vateer out of Providence. In 1772 he led the party that fired the

Gaspee, British schooner, as it lay grounded in Narragansett Bay.

This was the first real overt act of the Revolutionary War, and

Whipple, in reply to the demands for his punishment, coined the

classic phrase, "You must catch a man before you hang him."

He managed, in 1778, to get messages from the Continental

Congress through to Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and succeeded

in getting back with dispatches in reply--something of a feat

considering the traitorous activities of Edward Bancroft and

others, in keeping the British informed of the movements of all

vessels off the coast of France. When the war was over and peace

declared, Whipple was the first to sail up the Thames River on

a vessel flying the newly-recognized American flag. Later he had

cast his lot, and what little remained of his fortune, with the Ohio

Company, and settled in Marietta.

It was to this man that Woodbridge and Blennerhassett and

the others turned, when they sought a captain for their fine new

brig. It is not known how much Whipple received for his serv-

ices. Perhaps it was enough for him to know that he was to feel

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22    OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

once more the tang of salt spray on his face. At sixty-eight he

was still hale and hearty (He lived to be eighty-six years old.)

and his step was firm along the narrow deck of the little brig

St. Clair. He may well have needed the "mittings" and "wool

Hatt" charged to his account in February, to go out along the

river bank and watch and direct the progress of the shipbuilding;

and the pair of spectacles, too, a few days later, to scan the pages

of the Ohio Navigator which his employers purchased for him.

Some time must have been spent in giving skull-practice to the

green sailor hands that were to be with him on his voyage. So

far as can be learned he had not a single trained sailor aboard.

But they were stalwart youths, among them Ed Henderson, faith-

ful spy and ranger during the Indian wars, who was to die of

yellow fever before the St. Clair reached the port of Philadelphia.

For the mast-raising, several quarts of whiskey were

charged to the brig's account. Mast-raising, like house-raising and

sheep-washing, required much fortification. It is said that in later

years, when signing the temperance pledge was popular, reserva-

tion was frequently made, that the pledge need not be kept during

such important community affairs.

Late in April, 1801, the St. Clair caught the flow of a spring

freshet, dropped down the Muskingum and headed out onto the

broad Ohio. It must have taken extreme care to pilot this craft

down a river whose channel was nowhere charted, whose current

varied greatly from mile to mile, where "sawyers" -- fallen logs

still fast at one end -- scraped and swung dangerously, and great

snags of tree trunks lay concealed.

The "Old Commodore" had sailed in fog off the Grand

Banks, and had faced "ca'ms" in the Caribbean, but for his present

task it was well that he had learned his seamanship fifty years

before, sailing the narrow Narragansett Bay between Providence

and Newport, else he might never have had the patience to navi-

gate the Ohio. From Limestone, Kentucky, on April 26, Whipple

wrote:

On board the Brig St. Clair Gentlemen I arived heare at 1 P M and

between that an 3 P M we had as many as Two Thousand men and women

on board. We have Met nothing metar1 since we left Letarts falls. We

have had the wind up the river the most part of the time. We have gone

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FINE TIMBER                       23

 

onaly from 4 A M while darke We have found in no place less than 31/2

fathoms of water we Got once in the Trees by A Suden Shift of Wind

but soon of by Caring the ancor A Starn. My people behave well acording

to what they know as Seman.... I am So Troubled with Company I wish

that I had not Come Tue heare. Please Lett Mrs. Whipple know that I am

heare. Gentlemen I am your

Humble Servant etc. COM. ABRAHAM WHIPPLE.

N. B. the water heare is still on the Rise and hope it will Continue.

The technique which he developed was followed often by

captains in later voyages. A ship would be floated downstream

stern-first, dragging an anchor from the bow to keep her in chan-

nel. During the early stages of the voyage sails were frequently

more trouble than help. Once out on the Mississippi the long

sweeps were used to advantage.

The commodore made for the West Indies to dispose of his

load of barrel staves, pork, Indian meal, and to take on a load of

sugar and rum, but by the time he reached Havana most of his

crew were down with fever. It is said that had he not chanced to

find there his son John, who was an experienced seaman and

whose help he enlisted, he might never have been able to continue

to Philadelphia. But the voyage was completed, and cargo and

vessel were sold, netting a good profit to the owners. Blenner-

hassett and Woodbridge contracted immediately for building a

new brig, to be named the Dominic, after Blennerhassett's small

son. A complete account of the building expenses of this vessel

has been preserved.

The list of ships constructed during the next five years is an

interesting one. Those that Gilman was "a bulding" at the

time of Caleb Barstow's letter, were the Muskingum, 220 tons,

and the Eliza Greene, 150 tons. The sailmaker's bill for the

Muskingum was $107.89. Its quadrant cost $18. A "new compass

and repg. old one" amounted to $2.33. These vessels were less

fortunate than the St. Clair. No rise came until June, and then

the river was so low that passage to the Falls of the Ohio con-

sumed twenty-three days. At the Falls the cargoes were reloaded

and sent on in flat-boats, while the ships themselves lay helpless

until March of the following year.

In 1804 Marietta was made a port of entry for the United

States. A surveyor and a collector of customs were appointed.

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24    OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

The manifests of the vessel Ohio certify that she "is Brigantine

built and has main and quarter decks, two masts, square Stern and

round Tuck and has no Gallery and no Head; that she is in length

73'4", in breadth 23'7", in Depth II" 7' & is 173 14/95 Tons."

Larger ships followed. The Tuscarawas was 350 tons, and two

others, 400 tons each.

Then three blows shattered the industry. One was the Em-

bargo Act, crippling coastwise and European commerce. One was

the Conspiracy of Aaron Burr, which caused our officials sud-

denly to realize the difficulties of conducting government on both

sides of the great Alleghany mountain barrier, without some rapid

means of communication. This conspiracy brought about the Na-

tional Road and subsequent "Internal Improvements" by which

long trains of packhorses and freight-wagons could bear eastward

the produce of western farms. A third blow was the epoch-mak-

ing voyage, in 1807, of Robert Fulton's little steamship. What

could be done on the Hudson, could be done on the Ohio.

"With pleasure we announce --" says the Ohio Gazette, pub-

lished at Marietta, October 28, 1811, and quoting from the Pitts-

burgh Gazette, "that the steam boat lately built at this place by

Mr. Roosevelt . . . fully answers the most sanguine expectations

that were formed of her sailing. She is 150 feet keel, 450 Tons

burthen.... her cabin is elegant." The item continues: "On Wed-

nesday the 23rd inst. in the afternoon, the steamboat passed Mar-

ietta at the rate of 8 or 9 miles an hour ... she left Pittsburgh

on Sunday the 20th."

Mast-raising was now a thing of the past. Other produce

flourished in the hempfields. Ropewalks stood idle; in their place

came iron foundries. To be sure, the boatyards and mills began

again to buzz with industry, and the forests gave again of their

fine timber. But this time it was for faithful, humdrum packet

service, up and down the Ohio, up and down the Mississippi, up

and down the Missouri. The black walnut and white oaks and

yellow pines of the Muskingum hillsides were no longer destined

for high adventure upon the high seas. A great period in the in-

dustrial life of one small "sittey" was past.

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