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
(16)
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.
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
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 $833 a few years
before; and of his build-
ing there an elegant mansion. One hears
of his complicity in the
Burr Conspiracy, of his trial and the
loss of his home, and that he
died in poverty, if not in disgrace. Yet
the true story of Blenner-
hassett has never been written. The
importance of the part he
played in the development of this
first-settled corner of the North-
west Territory, can hardly be
overestimated.
He brought ready cash and a solid
account in the British
Funds with a Philadelphia brokerage
house, at a time when hard
money was scarce and most transactions
were carried on by barter,
by bear skins, by bucks and does, or by
the even more precarious
exchange and reckonings in Virginia
Currency, Pennsylvania Cur-
rency, New York Currency, Legal Tender
and--sometimes--
gold nuggets, e. g.:
20 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
James Brown, Credit.
By 2 pieces gold which we sent back and he
returned them after
getting Genl. Putnam to weigh them we took upon
condition our being able to
pass them. 4" 7 wt. 3.75$
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
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
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
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.
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.