Coshocton County, Ohio - Chapter 7: Something About Roads, Ferries, Bridges, Steamboats, Canals, and Railroads, 1876

Some of the earliest settlers of Coshocton county came into it by the route taken by Broadhead's military expedition, and others by that taken by Boquet's expedition - the former from "Wheeling, and the latter from Pittsburg to the Tuscarawas valley. The roads were of course Indian trails and bridle-paths. Others of the pioneers used canoes or other water conveyances, floating or poling up or down, as the case might be, the rivers and creeks.

In 1812, the legislature provided for roads from Cambridge to Coshocton ; from the head of White Eyes plains to Cadiz, and from Coshocton westwardly. Congress appropriated three per cent, of moneys derived from the sale of land to the making of roads. For the making of State roads, or the principal ones, commissioners were designated by the legislature. Many roads laid out in early times have in more recent years been somewhat altered, but the chief ones are in alignment wonderfully near the old Indian trails. An immense propoi^tion of the time occupied in the sessions of the county commissioners has been from the beginning, even to this writing, taken up with road matters. With all the alterations and improvements, Coshocton county has even yet little to boast of in the way of roads. There is not prabably at this writing a mile of turnpiked or macadamized road in the county. Fortunately in many parts of the county, especially along the valleys, the natural grade is such and the soil of such composition as to give for most of the year quite fair facilities for traveling.

Ferries were established very early in the century at Coshocton and near New Comerstown. Later they were numerous on the Tuscarawas and AValhonding rivers and on Will's creek and Killbuck creek. The business was never a very remunerative one to those operating the ferries, and the appliances rather rude. In 1817 the price of license for the ferry at Coshocton was put at sixteen dollars, and for the upper Tuscarawas at seven dollars. The authorized charge for ferriage was : for footman, six and one-quarter cents ; horse and rider, twelve and one-half cents ; loaded two-horse wagon, seventy-five cents. As might be expected, the attention of the ferryman was not always close. A witness in the court once declared that he " had been entertained (detained) for two hours waiting in the rain for the coming over of the ferryman." At another time the ferryman in charge declining on account of ice to come over, a settler famed for his courage and strength, and fresh from a visit to his girl " up the country," swam over the river, and not stopping to fully dress, " threshed " the ferryman and a dozen bar-room loafers in the tavern near by. At the ferry at the mouth of Will's creek John H. Hutchinson lost a valuable pair of horses, and barely escaped with his own life, the flat having been carried away by the force of the swollen stream, when the horses had not got a complete footing, and were dragged down by the wagon, which was heavily loaded with iron castings being brought from Zanesville for the Coshocton mill. It is said that one of the earlier ferrymen (perhaps an employe of W^illiams) at Coshocton for a time hved with his family in the trunk of an immense tree, quite after the big kind now attracting so much attention in the Yosemite (California) region.

A toll-bridge was built for the county over Killbuck in 1818 by Adam Johnston, at a cost of $495. Thomas Johnston and others, authorized by the legislature, built one over "Will's creek. After many years this was turned over to the county, on condition that it should be repaired and kept up. A bridge was built over the Tuscarawas at Coshocton in 1832 by Elisha Gibbs, Robert Hay, and William K. Johnson, under the supervision of James Renfrew, Samuel Lee, and Benjamin Ricketts, who were designated for the purpose by the county commissioners, and especially represented the citizens, who made donations (amounting to $1,200) for the building of this bridge, in order to have it a free bridge. It was carried away in a freshet about a year after it was finished.*

In 1836 a contract for the present bridge over the Tuscarawas, and also the one over the Walhonding at Roscoe was made with William Renfrew, James Hay, Thomas Johnson, and Robert Hay. The Tuscarawas bridge was finished in 1837, and the other in the following year. The contractors received for both bridges $19,900. That was a large sum for a county exjDenditure in those days, and there was some difiiculty in obtaining it. Sealed proposals for the loan were invited, without response. General Burns was sent by the commissioners to Baltimore to get the money, but failed. Ten thousand dollars of it were at length obtained through the Bowmans of Brownesville, Pa., legal custodians for some parties in Columbiana county, Ohio, and the other $10,000 from the " Ohio Life and Trust Company." For the first ten years the county was to pay only the interest and in the second ten the interest and $2,000 per year of the principal.

The next considerable bridge erected was a wooden one at Walhonding about 1854. It got out of shape, and was regarded by many as insecure, and was rebuilt in 1860.

Again giving way, it was superseded by an iron bridge in 1872. Some of the material in the old bridge was used in the masonry of the new. A mistake in dimensions was made, increasing the expense of the masonry, which (almost wholly for labor) cost some $1,200. The masons were Bachman Brothers and IST, W. Buxton. The superstructure was furnished by the Coshocton Iron and Steel Works, and cost $7,844. The ice in the winter of 1874 carried away a pier and two spans of this bridge. The latter were replaced by the Cincinnati Bridge Company (of which for a time the Coshocton Iron and Steel Works was a partner) in 1875.

The next bridge built was the Meskimens bridge, on the upper Tuscarawas, about 1854, costing some $10,000. This also was disturbed and somewhat rebuilt. The river having in 1861 cut a new channel, necessitated a new bridge a few hundred yards east of this one, the cost of which was about $9,000.

In 1868-9, the "Warsaw and Fry's Ford bridges (wooden) were built. John Shrake, of Newark, was contractor for masonry on both. The superstructure of the former was contracted for by B. & J. Haggerty, and of the latter by John Hesket. The masonry of the Warsaw bridge cost $6,765 ; of the Fry's Ford, $6,709. The superstructure of the former cost $8,893, and of the latter, $6,100.

The Orange bridge w^as built in 1870 ; the masonry - IN". W. Buxton, contractor - cost $8,311 ; the superstructure (iron), J. W. Davenport, contractor, cost $7,258.

An iron bridge was built over the Mohican, a little above Walhonding, in 1871. 'B,. W. Buxton constructed the piers and abutments for $4,465, and the Massillon Iron Bridge Company furnished the superstructure for $5,070.

The Lafayette bridge (iron) was built in 1873 ; stonework by -N". W. Buxton ; cost, $6,290; superstructure by Cincinnati Bridge Company (J. W. Shipman & Co., of Cincinnati, and Coshocton Iron and Steel Works) ; cost, $8,746.

The commissioners are proposing to mark the centennial year by building a bridge near Morris' Ford (two miles below Coshocton), and another at Robinson's Ford (seven miles below Coshocton), over the Muskingum river. The masonry of the upper one has been let to S. II. Moore, of Tuscarawas township, and of the lower one to Perry Collins, of Knox county. The superstructure of both is to be furnished by the Smith Bridge Company, of Toledo. They will be sixteen feet wide (wooden), and cost, together, some $21,000.

Until the Ohio canal and Muskingum imjorovements were made, steamboats occasionally came up to Coshocton. The original proprietors of the town designated certain lots on the river bank as " warehouse lots," looking to shipments by river. By act of the legislature, the Muskingum, Walhonding, and Tuscarawas rivers, and Killbuck, Mohican, and Will's creeks, within Coshocton county, have been declared " navigable streams."

In 1875, a little steamboat was built at Jacobsport by Mr. Parker, proprietor of the mill, and was running as a pleasure and burden boat for short distances on Will's creek.

That part of the Ohio canal (from Cleveland and Lake Erie to Portsmouth, on the Ohio river) lying in Coshocton county was built in 1827-30. Among the chief contractors were the following citizens of the county, viz. : Thomas Johnston, Wm. Renfrew, Matthew Stewart, Solomon Vail, A. Ferguson, Ephraim Thayer, and A. G. Wood.

A sad incident in the construction of the canal was the death of Judge Brown, a citizen of Coshocton, who had a contract, and was killed while superintending his work by a falling rock. An amusing incident was the exploit of one of the M - e girls, who was employed as cook for a gang of hands. Picking up the rifle of one of the boys who was preparing for a Sunday hunt, she declared she would shoot a man on the other side of the river, who was only an old bachelor, and, therefore, as she alleged, of

The first boat - the " Monticello " - arrived from Cleveland, August 21, 1830. She remained several days at the point of the hill above the aqueduct, attracting wonderstricken visitors in multitudes from this, and even adjoining counties.

The Walhonding canal was commenced in 1836, and finished in 1842. In the engineering corps were William H. Price, Charles J. Ward, John Waddle, Jacob Blickensderfer, Henry Fields, and Sylvester Medbery. Several of the gentlemen named above as contractors on the Ohio canal were also connected with this. In addition to these were John Frew, S. Mofiitt, Isaac Means, John Crowley, W. K. Johnson, and others. This canal lies wholly within the county, extending from Roscoe to Kochester, twenty-five miles. It cost $607,268.99, or an average of $24,290.76 per mile.

The first superintendent of the Ohio canal, residing at Roscoe, was S. R. Hosmer, now of Zanesville. Alonzo Ransom, James Hay, John Mirise, James Carnes, andWm. E. Mead, also held this ofiice. The first collector was Jacob Welch, from Boston, Massachusetts, who (and also John M. Sweeny) had been in the engineering corps under Leander Ransom. At his death E. Bennett was appointed. The following persons have held that position, viz. : John D. Patton (now of Washington City), Houston Hay (of Coshocton), Chauucey Bassett (now in Illinois), Wm. M. Green (ex-postmaster of jDayton), C. H. Johnston (of Coshocton), James Gamble (deceased, of Walhonding), and Foght Burt (now in Illinois).

The first canal-boat launched in the county was called the " Renfrew," in honor of James Renfrew, a merchant of Coshocton. It was built by Thomas Butler Lewis, an old Ohio keel-boatman.

to the northwestern ^jart of the State, but there was already (1842) much talk of a speedier mode of conveyance. The work had been very expensive, and the members of the legislature from districts where canals were not regarded as practicable were indisposed to continue the appropriations. In the days of the prosperity of the canals, several gentlemen were required to look after their interests in the capacity of collector, superintendent, and lock-tender, but of late years Samuel Gardiner has held all these otfices, and served besides as justice of the peace and county infirmary director.

The Steubenville and Indiana Kailroad (now merged in the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railw^^y) was built 1850-54 - that part of it in Coshocton county in 1852-53. It was originally planned to go from Coshocton up the "Walhonding valley, taking much the same direction as was once proposed for the Walhonding canal, and striking for N"orthern Indiana and Chicago. But the movements of another company anticipated part of this plan, and the road was built to Newark. A few individual subscriptions of stock were made, but most of the stock, afterward in the possession of individuals, came through the contractors to whom it had been given for work, or was given to the holders of it for right of way, etc. The county, in 1850, took $100,000 of the stock of the company, and the townships along the line of the road (except Oxford) $80,000 more - viz ; Lafayette, $20,000 ; Tuscarawas, $30,000 ; Franklin, $15,000 ; Virginia, $15,000 ; for all of which bonds were issued. Subsequently, in processes of consolidation and extension, nearly one-half of this stock was relinquished, leaving the rest in possession of the county and townships, No dividend has ever been paid on it, and it is all regarded as practically sunken. The road paid into the county treasury, as taxes for 1875, the sum of $5,578.68.

The citizens now readily recalled as having contracts for building the road are Samuel Brown (since removed to Illinois), John Frew, J. W. Rue, John, Ninian, and Geo. Ross. Neither these nor any other citizens specially con- nected with the building of the road, reaped much benefit from it, but many have gained immensely, and the general advancement of the county tlfough it has in amount exceeded many times over all that was ever invested in it. Until comparatively recent years, one of the board of directors was taken from Coshocton county. Wm. K. Johnson served in that capacity from the inception of the road until his death, and was succeeded by his brother, Joseph K. Johnson, now of ^N'ew York city.

In 1872, a railroad was located (as a branch of the Cleveland, Mt. A'^ernon and Columbus Railroad) through Clark, Bethlehem, Jefl'erson, Bedford, and "Washington townships, and some work was done on it. But " the panic " of 1873 prevented any further progress for some three years. At this writing fresh efibrts are being made to complete the work.

The Massilon and Coshocton Railroad, branching from the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and "Wheeling Railroad near Massilon (Beach city), and running to Coshocton, was located in 1875, and by the hearty assistance of parties along the line, under the direction of R. B. Dennis, W. L. Holden, and others interested in the C, T. V. & W. R. R., and also in coal-fields near Coshocton, is at this writing being rapidly constructed. A. H. Slayton, J. C. Fisher, E. T. Spangler, and J. C. Pomreue, of Coshocton, have been actively and oflicially connected with this enterprise. Several other railroads, notably one from Liberty, in Guernsey county, to Coshocton, and thence up the Walhonding valley (a part substantially of T. S. Humrickhouse's projected " Lake Michigan and Tidewater " Railroad) ; but up to this writing no effective measures have been taken in relation to them.