Muskingum County, Ohio - Chapter 26: Muskingum Improvement, 1882

Chapter 26: Muskingum Improvement

NAVIGABLE CANALS THE CANAL FUND COMMISSIONERS OF POWERS WHAT THE COMMISSIONERS DID COST OF MAKING THESE IMPROVEMENTS - CONNECTION WITH THE NAVIGATION

Of The Ohio River Revenue Derived From

February 4th, 1825, an act was passed by the Legislature of Ohio, "to provide for the internal improvement of the State of Ohio, by navigable canals," which is as follows : consist of three members, each of whom shall take an oath, or affirmation, well and faithfullj' to execute the duties required of him by law, who shall continue in thei»appointment six years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified, which Board shall continue until the stock which shall be created., as hereinafter provided, shall be wholly paid and redeemed, and that the terms of service of the three persons first appointed, shall be so arranged that one of their terms of service shall expire at the end of two years, and one at the end of four years, and one at the end of six years, to be decided by lot, so that one of said Commissioners shall be appointed every two years, and should a vacancy happen in said Board by death, resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature, the Governor, for the time being, shall appoint a person, or persons, to fill such vacancy, until the. Legislature shall act in the premises ; provided, that any of said Commissioners may be removed b};- joint resolution of both branches of the Legislature ; and that the following persons and their successors shall constitute said Board, to wit: Ethan A. Brown, Ebenezer Buckingham, and Allen Trimble ; that a majority of said Commissioners shall be a quorum for the transaction of business ; they shall superintend and manage the canal fund, and shall receive, arrange, and manage, to the best advantage, all things belonging thereto ; they shall boi-- row, from time to time, moneys on the credit of the State, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, and not exceeding, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five, the sum of four hundred thousand dollars, and in any succeeding year, during the progress of the work hereby contemplated, a sum which shall not exceed six hundred thousand dollars, for which moneys so to be borrowed, they shall issue transferable certificates of stock, redeemable at the pleas'ure of the State, at such time, between the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty and the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, as the said Commissioners of the Canal . Fund may determine, to be paid out of said fund, and transferable at such place, or places, as, in the opinion of said Commissioners of the Canal Fund, shall best promote the interest of the State ; they shall pay the sums so borrowed to the Canal Commissioners, or their orders, for the purpose of making the canals hereinbefore described, under such regulations and restrictions as the Commissioners of the Canal Fund may deem necessary and proper, in order to secure the application of the money to the making of the canals. ********

Section 8. "That it shall be lawful for the said Canal Commissioners, and each of them by themselves, and by any and every superintendent, agent, or engineer employed by them, to enter upon, and take possession of, and use all and singular, any lands, waters, streams, and materials necessary for the prosecution of the improvements intended by this act ; and to make all such canals, feeders, dykes, locks, dams, and other works and devices, as they may think proper for mak- ing such improvements, doing, nevertheless, no unnecessary damage ; and that in case any lands, waters, streams, or materials taken and appropriated, for any of the purf)oses aforesaid, shall not be given or granted to this State, it shall be the duty of the Canal Commissioners, on application being made to them by the owner, or owners, of an}- such lands, waters, streams, or materials, to appoint, by writing, not less than three, nor more than five, discreet, disinterested persons as appraisers, who shall, before they enter upon the duties of their appointment, severally take an oath, or affirmation, before some person authorized to administer oaths, faithfully and impartially to perform the trust and duties required of them by this act, a certificate of which oath, or affirmation, shall be filed with the Secretary- of the Canal Commissioners ; and it shall be the duty of said appraisers, or a majority of them, to make a just and equitable estimate and appraisal, of damage, if any, over and above the benefit and advantage to the respective owners and proprietors, or parties interested in the premises, so required foi" the purposes aforesaid, and the said appraisers, or a majority of them, shall make regular entries of their determination and appraisal, with an apt and sufficient description of the several premises, appropriated for the purposes aforesaid, in a book, or books, to be provided by the Canal Commissioners, and certify and sign their names to such entries and appraisals, etc.

"In pursuance of this act, the Board made arrangements for taking levels, and making surveys and examinations necessary to ascertain the best plan, and probable cost, of improving that important river - the Muskingum. Mr. Joseph Ridgeway, Jr., was accordingly directed to - proceed to the performance of this service. In this gentleman's skill the Board feels great confidence, and entertains no doubt but that his levelings and surveys are substantially correct. In adopting a plan for improving the size of the river, the nature of the valley, its banks and bed, and its connection with the Ohio river, have been taken into view. As the improvement of the Muskingum is designed, among other advantages, to connect the navigation of the Ohio river with that of the canal through the valley of the Muskingum, it is of primary importance that the improvement should be such as to aflxjrd a commodious navigation, either for boats of the canal, or the steamboats of the Ohio. The character of the valley, and the channel of the Muskingum, render it much cheaper to make a steamboat navigation in its channel, than a canal along its margin.

"The plan of improvements, therefore, which has been adopted, is to create, at all places in the channel of the river, by means of dams, a sufficient depth of water to admit the passage of steamboats of the size found most profitable for navigating the Ohio river, and construct the locks, and side cuts around the dams, of sufficient dimensions for that purpose.

"The channel of the river is sufficiently large for the convenient navigation of the largest steamboats, being, on an average, five hundred feet in breadth. The distance from Zanesville to the mouth of the river, at Marietta, following the meanderings of the river, is seventyfive miles and sixty-six chains. The amount of fall from the foot of the upper dam, at Zanesville, to the level of low-water mark at Marietta, is one hundred and four feet, and from the top of the Zanesville dam, one hundred and fifteen feet. To make slack water throughout this whole distance, if not less than four feet in depth, at the lowest stages of water, will require eleven dams across the river. The descent from the lower dam at Zanesville, may be overcome by twelve locks, the aggregate lift of which will be one hundred and four feet.

lowest estimated cost of making these improvements, from the lower bridge in Zanesville to the Ohio river, including ten per cent, on the net estimate, to cover unforeseen expenses, is $353,443.67.

"In order to connect the navigation of the Ohio river with the canal, it will be necessary to improve the river betwen Zanesville and Dresden, by the erection of one dam across the river between these two places, and the making of a lock, to overcome the fall ; together with a lock and an increase of the breadth of the canal, at Zanesville ; the total cost of which is estimated at $56,556.61.

"A side cut, or branch canal, of about two and a half miles in length, from the main canal to the Muskingum, at Dresden, with three boat locks, overcoming a descent of twenty-eight feet from the canal into the river, will be necessary, to perfect the plan. The cost of this side cut will be about thirty-five thousand dollars." The contract for building this side cut was at once let, to be completed September i, 1829.

The question of this improvement continued to be agitated until 1835, when the contracts were let, and work began. The contractors were : Josiah Spaulding, G. W. Manypenny ; Lyon, Buck & Wolf; Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, and Arthur and James Taggert. The whole work was under the personal supervision of David Bates, civil engineer.

In 1 84 1, the work was so far advanced as to allow the passage of boats ; but it was not until a year later that the 'Muskingum Improvement' was entirely completed. The total cost was one million six hundred thousand dollars.

The revenue of the improvement is derived from tolls, similar to those collected on the Ohio Canal. The locks are located as follows : Dresden, Simms' Creek, Zanesville, Taylorsville, Eaglesport, McConnellsville, Windsor, Luke Chute, Beverly, Lowell, Devolt, and Harmar. There are two locks at Zanesville, and a dam near each of the locks named, except at Dres-

Toll Receipts. - The receipts during the year 1879, from tolls and water rents, on Division No. 2, of the Public Works of Ohio, which embraces the Ohio and Hocking Canals, and the Muskingum Improvement, aggregated $35,- 084.99, divided as follows :

Tonnage Table. - The following table shows the amount of business done at the Collector's office in Zanesville - the shipments and receipts - din-ing the year 1879 -