Licking County, Ohio - The Ohio Canal, 1881

DOLLARS NEGOTIATED - COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK - THE FIRST CONTRACTS - THE GRANVILLE FEEDER - THE LENGTH AND COURSE OF THE CANAL - ITS REVENUE AND MANAGEMENT.

but little at present about the great Ohio canal, and the interest taken in it at the commencement of che work. undertakings of the age, and indeed, was the beginning of that grand series of internal improvements which has greatly assisted in placing Ohio among che foremost States of the Union. aistory of this great work is taken mostly from the writings of Colonel John Noble, one of the con- <tactors in the work, and from those of William 'Wing, esq., deceased. Mr. Wing was also a con- -ractor on the canal, and died in Columbus, Ohio, February 13, 1878, in his seventy-ninth year. He was an honorary member of the Licking County Pioneer society, and contributed liberally to its historical records. He was well versed in the pioneer history of Central Ohio, and has left behind him writings of much historical value.

Before the building of the canal this county had no outlet for produce, except by wagons to the lake, or by wagons to the Muskingum river, and thence 'by boat to New Orleans. sroduce for which there was no market. Ham was svorth three cents per pound; eggs, four cents per Hozen; flour, one dollar per 'hundred; -whiskey, -welve and a half cents per gallon, and other things oroportionately cheap.

Samuel Forrer, of Dayton, was appointed principal acting engineer; John Forrer, local engineer on the Summit, and he immediately prepared a few rods of ground, where the line of the canal would pass through a field, for the public demonstration.

The invited guests included many of the notables of the State and nation, among whom were Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York; Messrs. Rathburn and Lord; General Edward King, of Chillicothe; General Sanderson, of Lancaster; Governor Morrow, of this State; Ex-Governor Worthington; Hon. Thomas Ewing, who was the orator of the day, and many others. Governor Clinton was expected to throw out the first spadeful of earth. This gentleman had proven himself the great friend of internal improvements, having been the principal promoter in the building of the Erie canal in his own State.

A correspondence between leading friends of the enterprise resulted in the appointment of a committee to carry out the wishes of the commissioners. This committee consisted of Judge Wilson and Alexander Holmes, of Licking, and Judge Elnathan Schofield, one of the earliest surveyors in this section, and John Noble, of Fairfield county. This committee, at their first meeting, engaged Gottleib Steinman, a hotel keeper of Lancaster, to furnish a dinner, upon the ground, for the invited guests; and as many more as would pay for a dinner ticket, at one dollar and fifty cents a ticket. This proved to be a losing business for Steinman. It happened to be wet two or three days before the Fourth, and as there were no houses near the site of the entertainment, rough booths were constructed in the woods; tables and seats were made of plank, hauled from saw-mills at a considerable distance from the place. All the fancy part of the dinner, including pastry, etc., were prepared at Lancaster, twenty-two miles south. The entire preparation was made under the most unfavorable circumstances. The roasts and broils were prepared onthe ground. The Fourth opened fine and clear; the dinner was good, and enjoyed by all that partook; but of the thousands who at_ tended, many prepared for the emergency by bringing a hamper of provisions with them.

The ceremonies began according to programme. Governor Clinton received the spade, thrust it into the soil, and raised the first spadeful of earth, amid the most enthusiastic cheers of the assembled thousands.

spadeful. Then commenced a strife as to who should raise the next. Captain- Ned. King, commanding the infantry company present from Chillicothe, raised the third; then some of the guests of Governor Clinton's company threw in some dirt, and the wheelbarrow being full, Captain King wheeled it to the bank. It is impossible to describe the scene of excitement and confusion that accompanied this ceremony. 'The people shouted themselves hoarse. The feeling was so great that tears fell from many eyes.

back and sides of the stand. 'The flies, after three days' rain, were so troublesome, that the horses kept up a constant stamping, much to the annoyance of the crowd. Caleb Atwater, the noted antiquarian, was present, and made the following remark afterward at Lancaster: "I suppose it was all right to have the horses in front of the speaker's stand, for they cannot read, and we can."

Governor Clinton and friends, Governor Morrow, Messrs. Rathburn and Lord, with many others were invited to Lancaster, where they were handsomely entertained by the citizens. Rathburn and Lord were the men who negotiated the loan of four hundred thousand dollars for Ohio; and the Lancaster bank was the first to make terms with the fund commissioners to receive and disburse the money.

The wages for work on the canal were eight dollars for twenty-six working days, or thirty and three-fourth cents per day, from sunrise to sunset. The hands were fed well and lodged in shanties, and received their regular "'jiggers" of whiskey the first four months.

Micajah T. Williams and Alfred Kelley were the acting commissioners, and proved themselves faithful public servants. They were often passing up and down the line, and saw the evil effects of the '"jigger" of whiskey. They left notice at each contract station that they would not pay estimates monthly if the contractors furnished whiskey on the work - an order that caused much grumbling among a certain class of the men, but it was promptly obeyed by the contractors. <A jigger was small, not a gill in measure, but fifty or sixty men taking four of these per day - at sunrise, at ten o'clock, at noon, at four o'clock, and before supper - would exhaust a barrel of whiskey in four or five days. Men from Fairfield, Hocking, Gallia and Meigs counties, and all the country around, came to work on the canal. Farmers and their sons wanted to earn this amount of wages, as it was cash - a very scarce article - and they must have it to pay taxes and other cash expenses.

Before the canal was finished south of the Summit, the north end from Dresden to Cleveland was in operation ; and wheat sold on the canal at seventyfive cents per bushel. Corn rose in proportion, and the enemies of the canal, all of whom were large land holders, or large tax payers, began to open their eyes. One of these, a Mr. Shoemaker, of Pickaway county, below Tarlton, was a rich land owner, and had opposed the building of the canal, as it would increase his tax and then be a failure. This gentleman, for such he was, said that his boys, with one yoke of oxen and a farm cart, hauled potatoes to Circleville and sold them for forty cents per bushel until they had more money than sufficed to pay all his taxes for a year. This was an article for which, before this, there was no market, and he was now a convert to improvement. Wheat raised from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel before the canal was finished.

The contracts for building the canal were made soon after breaking the ground at Licking Summit. The first at Newark embraced all the section from the point of breaking ground, south, including the embankment of the Licking Summit reservoir to the deep cut, so called, and there was one section at the south end of the cut let, about this time, to Colonel Noble. At these lettings, statements were posted up for the information of bidders, of the quantity and different kinds of work in each section, and also their estimates of the value of doing the same. Bidders from New York wert present, and obtained some of the heaviest jobs - as the reservoir job and some others. The price of excavation and embankment was from nine to thirteen cents per cubic yard; grubbing and clearing, per chain, two to ten dollars, according to circumstances. But little masonry was let in this division; and the work here was let about ten per cent. below the engineer's estimates. Colonel'Noble probably took his contract on the engineer's estimates, as it was deemed necessary that that section should be finished, in order to afford drainage when the deep cut should be put under contract. It is said that the colonel was at considerable expense in procuring machinery to pull down the large elm trees, of which there were many on the section, and that the attempt to get them out in that way was not a success. His contract, therefore, did not prove a profitable one.

The next letting at Newark included the deep cut, so called, and the South Fork feeder. The length of this cut was about three miles. At the deepest place it was about thirty-four feet, descending gradually in either direction to about eight feet at either end, so that it would average about twenty-four feet the whole length. It was divided into two sections, and the whole was let at fifteen cents per cubic yard; the north half to Scoville, Hathaway & Co., of New York, and the south half to Osborn, Rathburn & Co., of Columbus. The first named party sub-let their job to Hampson &

Parkinson, of Muskingum county, who carried it on for a time and abandonded it at very considerable loss, it is said. The other party, under the firm name of Osborn, Willliams & Co., prosecuted their work to final completion, and undertook the unfinished part of the north section; but they obtained, at different times, of the commissioners, an advance 'on the price originally agreed upon, so that at the close they were paid about thirty cents a yard for the work. Probably the average was twenty-five cents per yard cost to the State.

It is somewant singular, that on the highest part of the cut there was a swamp of a few acres, where the water stood in the spring of the year, and as it was raised by heavy rains, the water flowed from the swamp north to the waters of the Licking, and south to the tributaries of the Scioto. -The feeder above mentioned, being mostly common work, was let at low rates, probably below the estimates.

The next work was also let at Newark. It commenced at the north end of Licking Summit, thence northward to Nashport, including all the heavy work, and the dam at the lower end of the Licking Narrows. The letting embraced some twelve to fifteen locks, two aqueducts and culverts, with the usual excavation and embankment. The masonry of the locks was bid in at from two dollars to two dollars and fifty cents 'per perch of sixteen and one-half cubic feet, which included a lock finished, except the excavation of the pit and embankment around the lock. The other masonry was let at proportionate rates, and the other work went very low. There was great competition.

The next letting was at Irville, in Muskingum county; commencing at the north end of the above described work, extending north to Roscoe, upon which there was considerable heavy work let at about the same rates as above, competition

The next work was let at Lancaster, commencing at the south end of Colonel Noble's job, thence southward to Circleville. This included some heavy work, also. There were some twenty or twenty-five locks, a few culverts and aqueducts, a dam at Bloomfield, and about the usual amount of earth work. All were let at low prices; the first six locks south of Licking Summit at three dollars and fifteen cents a perch; the face stone were hauled from the neighborhood of Lancaster, an average distance of eight miles. Lower down, about Carrol, Lockport and Winchester, the locks were about two dollars and fifty cents a perch. The light locks, just above the junction of the main canal with the Columbus feeder, were let at three dollars and twenty-five cents a perch.

At these prices it required the closest economy to do the work without loss. Some of the jobs awarded were abandoned and afterwards re-let at better prices. The price of labor was very low. Wages did not rise above ten dollars per month for four or five years. There was no "eight hour system ;" the men worked all day. Very few Irish or other foreigners had arrived at that time, and the work was mostly done by native Americans.

It was a great undertaking for the State'to build the canal; and although its working has never paid the interest on its cost, yet, it has, without doubt, paid for itself many times over by the increased wealth it brought to the State, and the great increase in values of every marketable thing, covering a large extent of country.

The Granville feeder extended from Licking Summit to Raccoon creek, at Paige's woollen factory, about a mile and a quarter southeast of Granville. In order to have navigation as near Granville as possible, the commissioners agreed to make the feeder navigable for boats as far as Paige's factory, provided the people of Granville would make it navigable from thence to the bridge at the Lancaster road. This they agreed to do. It involved considerable expense, as a dam, guard-lock, liftlock and about a half mile of canal had to be built to render it navigable. ;

A warehouse was erected at the head of navigation, and a boat built there by the Troy and Ohio line, under the superintendence of a Mr Wallace. This is believed to have been the first canal boat built south of Cleveland.

The feeder was used for navigation until the Granville furnace was abandoned in 1838, since which it has become dilapidated and out of repair.

three hundred and six miles long, exclusive of the lateral canal to Columbus, eleven miles, and the Dresden side cut, together with slack-water navigation to Zanesville, seventeen miles more, making in all three hundred and thirty-four miles, including its various windings. It commences at Cleve- portage, between it and the Tuscarawas river; by the city of Akron and over to the Tuscarawas, down whose valley it follows to Massillon, Dover, New Philadelphia, Newcomerstown, Caldersburgh, Coshocton and Dresden, where it leaves the Tuscarawas, or rather the Muskingum as the river is called below Coshocton, and takes a southwesterly direction, passing Nashport, and striking the Licking river just beyond the eastern line of Licking county, passing up that river to Newark; thence up the South fork to Hebron, Deep Cut, Baltimore and Carrol, reaching the Scioto river just within the limits of Pickaway county, eleven miles south of Columbus. From this point it follows the Scioto valley to the Ohio river, passing the towns of Bloomfield, Circleville, Westfall, Chillicothe and Piketon to Portsmouth. It is owned and controlled by the State, and is under the immediate supervision of the board of public works, who appoint all its officers and have entire charge of all its affairs. It is divided into three divisions, each of which is in charge of a chief engineer, who looks after repairs and other matters and makes a yearly report to the board. Collectors are stationed at various places along the canal, whose business is to collect tolls and water rent. A specified amout of toll is paid by those who run the boats, both upon the boat and cargo, the rate depending upon the value or quality of the cargo. It varies from two or three mills to two or three cents per mile. The boats are owned by private individuals, who have the use of the canal by paying the tolls. Before the days of railroads these boats did a through business, and some of them were "passenger packets," which were lightly and neatly built, and arranged for carrying passengers, and made much quicker time than the freight boats. Since the advent of railroads, however, this class of boats has, of course, disappeared, and those carrying freight now do only a local business, the railroads doing all through business. The boats will carry from fifty to eighty tons, and draw from two to three feet of water. Their principal business now is to transport coal, wheat, building stone and any freight that does not require quick transportation.

In 1861 the canal was leased to a company for ten years, and at the end of that time the lease was renewed for ten years, but the company abandoned the lease in 1878, the State taking possession again in May, 1879. For several years prior to leasing it the canal had been a heavy yearly expense to the State, the receipts falling much below the expenditures; since taking possession again in 1879, however, the' receipts have largely exceeded the expenditures, and the State, probably for the first time in the history of this enterprise, is now making money out of it.