Paulding County, Ohio - Chapter 7: Canals and Railroads, 1892

HE building of the Wabash & Erie and Miami extension canals through the county was looked upon as being one of the most important events of the pioneer days. For many years they were the great commercial thoroughfares of the county, and did much toward its early development. Regarding their construction the following is

` commissioner of the state of New York. An act of the Ohio legislature | was passed in February, 1820, authorizing the appointment of three com- `` missioners to locate such a canal. The act also proposed to ask of the general government a grant of one or two million acres of land, the proceeds of which were to be applied to the construction of the canal. For some reason the commissioners were not appointed and no survey was made, In 1821-22, the subject of canals was again revived in the Ohio legislature, and on the 31st of January, 1822, a bill was passed authorizing an examination into the practicability of constructing a canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio river. Seven commissioners were chosen for that

` purpose, and competent engineers were appointed to make surveys, examinations and estimates. Four routes were taken into consideration. The first from the Ohio river at Cincinnati to the Maumee river, and from thence to the lake; the second from Sandusky Bay to some point on the Ohio; the third to Traverse, up the Cuyahoga river, and then cross to the navigable waters of the Muskingum, thence down that stream to the Ohio; the fourth route was by way-of the Grand and Mahoning rivers. The Cuyahoga and Muskingum river route won the prize, and the Ohio and Erie canal was constructed thereon. In 1824, however, a survey was made of the Miami and Maumee river route, and an estimate

"M. T. Williams, a member of the state board of canal commissioners, directed this survey. Samuel Forrer was the chief engineer, assisted by J. L. Williams, Francis Cleveland and Richard Howe. A great portion of the survey was through an unbroken wilderness. From where the town of St. Mary's now stands to Auglaize river, a distance of about forty miles, no signs of civilization were visible. On the banks of the Auglaize a squatter, named Thomas McClish, had made a small improvement. Here the party had an encampment, and also at Oquanoxa's town, an Indian village, which stood upon the present site of Charloe. The surveying of the Wabash and Erie canal was commenced in 1826, but not finally completed until the autumn of 1828.

"In 1827, congress made a land grant to the state of Indiana, of onehalf of the public lands on each side for a distance of five miles, of a proposed canal that would connect Lake Erie with the waters of the

Wabash river. The Indiana terminus of the canal, and also of the grant, was at the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, 213 miles from the lake. The canal was constructed to Evansville, Indiana, a distance of about 500 miles from the lake,

"In May, 1828, congress made a similar grant to Ohio, to aid in the construction of the Miami canal from Dayton to the lake; and also in the same act authorized the state of Indiana to convey to Ohio the right to all public lands lying within the limits of that state, upon such terms as might be agreed upon by those states. Accordingly commissioners were chosen from both states - one from each - who met at Zanesville, Ohio, in October, 1829, where Indiana, through her commissioner, agreed to surrender all the lands within the limits of Ohio to the latter named state, on condition that she would construct the canal from the state line to Toledo, and give to the citizens of Indiana all the rights and privileges that were granted to the citizens of Ohio. Although the Miami canal was the first to be surveyed, yet the Indiana people were the first to begin their portion of the work.

"The first ground on the Wabash and Erie was broken at Ft. Wayne in the spring of 1832. The work progressed slowly, and by the middle of 1835 only thirty-two miles had been completed. In 1840 the canal was opened between La Fayette and the east line of Indiana. Ohio was slower than Indiana to appreciate this needed channel of navigation, and Indiana, disappointed at this tardiness, in 1840 sent their chief engineer to Columbus to urge upon the legislature of Ohio the speedy fulfillment of their portion of the canal contract. The Ohio people commenced work immediately, and, in 1843, the final completion of the Wabash & Erie canal took place. The event was celebrated at Fort Wayne on the 4th of July of that year, and was participated in by citizens from both states, who listened to an able oration, delivered upon the occasion, by Gen. Lewis Cass.

"The Miami canal was not completed until 1845. These two canals, of which a brief history has been given, pass through Paulding county; the Wabash and Erie enters the county on the west side and passes through the northern tier of townships; the Miami enters on the south and has a course through the eastern tier of townships. They unite at the village of Junction."

The Indiana portion of the Wabash & Erie canal was entirely abandoned about the year of 1870. This, rendering worthless that portion of it between the state line and Junction, was also abandoned by an act of the Ohio state legislature in 1888, further mention of which will be made later on under the head of " Reservoir War." The Miami is yet navigable through the county and is in a tolerable state of repairs. That these canals have been of great benefit to the county cannot be gainsaid or questioned. When in full operation they were the great navigable lines between Toledo and Evansville, a distance of over 500 miles; and between Toledo and Cincinnati, a distance of 242 miles. Uponthem was conveyed - - as freight - grain, lumber and every other commercial commodity. A daily line of packets was established for the conveyance of passengers and the United States mail. These packets were drawn by three horses, driven on a brisk trot, and changed at relays ten miles apart. The schedule time to be made was six miles an hour. Doyle & Dickey were the proprietors of the best line of packets ever established upon these canals, Junction was then the place of transfer for the southern and western branches of the line. Once at that place, while the Wabash packet was waiting for the one from the south, its horses were all stolen, while the driver was regaling himself in a neighboring restaurant. After some inconvenience and a short delay a new team was promptly purchased and the swift gliding craft proceeded on its way. The proprietors threatened to prosecute that horse thief for obstructing the United States mail, but he was never caught. The through lines of packets were abandoned about the year of 1852, as the age of steam had at that time gained a firm footing, and railroads afforded a much more rapid transit.

The first railroad built through the county was the Toledo, Wabash & Western, now called the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific. Gen. W. H. Gibson and Gen. James B. Steedman had charge of its construction between Defiance and Ft. Wayne. It passes through the northern part for a distance of eighteen miles, and was completed in 1855. The construction of the road, at this comparatively early date, is mainly due to the untiring energy of some of the enterprising citizens of Defiance, as is told by the late lamented Hon. W. C. Holgate, of that city, in a historical address before a meeting of the Maumee Valley Pioneer association, and published in the Defiance Democrat, February 28, 1878. He says: "Prior to 1842, the chief mode of travel was on foot or on horseback, and the chief means for transporting goods and produce was by pirogues or flatboats on the rivers. Our merchants and those of Ft. Wayne obtained their goods in this way from the mouth of the Maumee, where they were brought in lake boats from Buffalo. About this time the Wabash and Miami canals were constructed. Emanating in a common trunk from Toledo, one passed southwesterly through Ft. Wayne, Lafaytte, and other towns in Indiana, toward Illinois; and the other struck south to Cincinnati. Upon these canals were sumptuous packets, and numerous line boats; and they began to introduce to us the conveniences and comforts of a civilized life, and we became very hopeful that we would soon assume city dimensions. But disappointment came over the spirit of our dreams. Railroads began to stir the people of the country about these days. From the operations of those already completed, it became evident that they were destined ere long to revolutionize matters pertaining to the business of the towns; materially changing the prestige or destroying some, and building up others.

" completion of the Mad River road, passengers that would otherwise have taken the packets at Cincinnati and passed through our village to Toledo, took the cars on that road and went to Sandusky. And at the west they would leave the canal, travel twenty and fifty miles out of a direct line north to the Michigan Southern to get to Toledo, rather than ride over the canal through our place. But a blow came nearer home; the Pittsburgh & Ft. Wayne road was put in operation, and the people of Ft. Wayne, who had been our nearest and most intimate neighbors, became lost to us, and we have seen no more of them to this day. But this was not all; it passed only thirty miles to the south of us, draining and carrying away a country that had been tributary to us. But a severer blow than this became impending. First the 'Junction road' loomed up, its place soon to be taken by the 'Air Line,' with a power behind equal to the occasion, and this was to cut our hitherto tributary territory within the limits of fifteen miles at the north. Already the cars were running on this to Wauseon, and then to Stryker, and our liverymen began running a line of carriages to and fro, to enable our citizens to get to Toledo in that way. Already our leading business men began to cast about and talk of removing to Wauseon, Stryker or Bryan. Had we not secured a railroad, and that speedily at this juncture, our doom as a town would have been sgaled. Wo might have retained a rickety school house, a blacksmith shop, and a' meetin' house' for all denominations, but this would have been the extent of our town capacity. true, the securing of the Wabash road did not bring back to us our tribtary territory, and so assure to us city proportions; but it put us in a position to become a respectable village, and with the advantages of our canal, made us, as we had hitherto been, the most desirable locality in these northwestern counties away from the lakes for trade and commerce.

"Few appreciate the really hard efforts and work that was done about the years of 1851-2 by some of the citizens of Defiance to galvanize, as it were, into being a railroad that would save the town from impending death. As her committee appointed for railroad purposes cast their eyes around, they could see no spark in the horizon, or any place, 'so big as a man's hand,' giving any prospects or hopes. Mr. T. D. Phillips, one of the proprietors of the town, a practical man of business, who had much experience in such matters about Dayton, where he lived, on coming forth from one of the 'committee meetings,' with downcast looks, says, 'Gentlemen, I don't see any chance for you.' But the desperate condition the town was now in aroused some on the committee, as, perhaps, they had been only once before, and late at night, and early in the morning, they worked, and worked, and worked on. Every railroad man and interest east as far as Buffalo, south as far as Cincinnati, and west as far as Lafayette, was corresponded with - - and that correspondence would now fill a volume. Every railroad meeting within those limits was attended, and in vivid colors in our newspapers was depicted the advantages of routes through Defiance. * * * * Suffice it here to say the labors of that 'old committee' resulted in the construction of a railroad from Toledo running southwesterly through Defiance to the state of Illinois. The securing of this Wabash road saved Defiance, and

While the road saved Defiance, as Mr. Holgate has said, it also had its beneficial results upon Paulding county, opening for its first railroad communication with the great commercial centers of the country, east and west. It passes through the townships of Emerald, Crane, Carryall, and Harrison, and has an assessed value in the county of $266,563, annually paying into the treasury a tax of over 36,000, The second railroad completed in the county was the Paulding & Cecil road, extending between those two points, a distance of seven miles. Its struggles were manifold and its "ups and downs" numerous. The nucleus upon which the road was built was a strap iron track extending two miles south from the Paulding furnace, and used by the company in hauling wood forthe kilns. About the year of 1877, George W. Potter, of Paulding, purchased of S. M. Doyle the material of a small narrow gauge railroad, whiçh had been in operation between Columbus and North Columbus; and removed it to Paulding county. With this material he proceeded to construct a railroad from Cecil to a point about one-half a mile's distance from Paulding. It wasa rickety affair, and it is thought that the proprietor never realized' much profit upon the amount he invested in building it. In 1879 John E. K. Evans, with the aid of citizens of Paulding and Cecil, began the construction of a standard gauge road between those points, which, being completed, the first train ran over it into Paulding September 1, 1880. In 1881 it passed into the hands of the Paulding & Cecil railway company, with Frank Eagle as president, and was operated by that company until 1884, when it was sold to the Cincinnati, Van Wert & Michigan railway company, and became a part of what is now the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw road.

A history of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad, or " Nickel Plate," as it is familiarly known, may be thus briefly told: In May, 1854, the citizens of Paulding county were startled by the sudden appearance of a corps of engineers engaged in running a railroad line from Tiffin to Fort Wayne. Shortly after the line was located, contractors began work and the road was cut out and partly graded through the county. In the autumn of the above mentioned year, work was suspended for the winter, with the assurance that it would be resumed the following spring. Spring came, but with it came no orders to begin work on the Tiffin & Fort Wayne railroad, and they never came. The financial embarrassment of the leaders of the enterprise had caused a permanent suspension, and many contractors and employes under them suffered a loss of being unpaid for their labor. In 1872 a new company was formed, a resurvey of the line was made and work vigorously begun. This time it was called the " Continental Railway," and was to be the great doubletracked through thoroughfare between New York city and Omaha. So confident were all that the road would this time be built that villages were located at every available point along the line, store-rooms and warehouses were erected, and corner lots arose to fabulous prices. But a second time were the people interested doomed to disappointment, for, as upon the Tiffin & Fort Wayne, work ceased upon this road never to be resumed, and the magnificent, double-tracked Continental railway passed into innocuous desuetude. For nearly ten years it slept as in the sleep of death, but in 1881 it was resurrected by a modest young railroad man of Lima, now the Hon. Calvin T. Brice, United States senator from Ohio. Its resurrection was brought about as follows:

Mr. Brice, having become largely interested in the Lake Erie & Louisville, and other north and south roads in Ohio, was desirous of obtaining an outlet for his freight to the eastern seaboard, and accordingly held an interview with William H. Vanderbilt, to see if said outlet could not be secured over his lines at better rates than those existing. The great railroad king of New York smiled rather derisively upon the young Ohio man and would offer him no inducements. Mr. Brice turned upon his heel and said: "I will build a competing line," and forthwith work was begun upon the New York, Chicago & St. Louis railroad. It was completed through the county in September, 1881. While work was progressing, the old settler looked blandly on and said: "This 'ere road will never be built." Twice had he been deceived by its fickle promises and false charms, and did not propose to be a third time duped. But the third attempt brought the real charm, and the most obstinate doubter was happily disappointed. When he saw the wheels of the iron horse go whirling by he had to believe. The line through the county is a straight one, and has a one minute deflection from a direct east and west course. It traverses the townships of Brown, Jackson, Paulding and Harrison, a distance of twenty-four miles, and has within that distance nine stations. The assessed value of its main track, side-tracks, rolling stock, ete., in the county, is placed upon the auditor's duplicate at about $200,000, so that it pays into the treasurer's office a good, round sum as taxes. When

Mr. Vanderbilt saw the effect of this "competing line" upon the Lake Shore road, he sought control of it, and it passed into the Vanderbilt system in 1886; Mr. Brice, it is said, clearing a cool 35,000,000 by the deal. So much for the pluck and energy of an Ohio man, who, if he did not belong directly to Paulding county, was born in the adjoining county of Putnam.

As early as 1838 there was talk of building a railroad from Florida to the Straits of Mackinaw, but there was nothing done upon the project more than to point out the benefits which would arise from such a route. Along in the latter part of the "fifties" a survey was made northward from Cincinnati via Greenville, and a road, called the Mackinaw, was partly graded as far north as Van Wert. Work suddenly ceased upon this road, apa for more than twenty years nothing was heard of the Mackinaw. In 1880 the citizens of Van Wert, realizing the importance of a north and south road to their town, organized the Cincinnati, Van Wert

` & Michigan railway company, with John M. C. Marble as president, and began work on a road extending both north and south from that place. The first portion of the road completed was from Van Wert to Shane's Crossing, eight miles south. From this point it slowly but steadily advanced from town to town until it reached Franklin, on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, whence it runs its trains over that road to Cincinnati. This was accomplished in 1887, seven years after the road was begun. The slowness of its construction was from the following cause: The company depended upon local aid to erect the first por- 'tions of the road, and then upon the earnings of the portions completed to build the remainder. The road was completed to Paulding in 1884, and by purchasing the Paulding & Cecil road secured an outlet to the Wabash at Cecil. From this point trains were run south until about 1887, when the road was pushed on northward into the state of Michigan.

The company was re-organized about this time and the name of the road changed to the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw. The road is very convenient for the citizens of Paulding county, as they can leave Paulding the early morning trams, arrive at Cincinnati about 10 a. m., have five or six hours in that city, and reach home the same day. It passes through the townships of Blue Creek, Paulding and Crane, a distance of eighteen miles in the county, and is assessed at about $3,000 per mile. Its stations in the county are Scott, Folmer, Dague, Latty, Paulding, Holcombe, Furnace and Cecil. It crosses the Nickel Plate at Latty, and the Wabash at Cecil.

___ In the winter of 1882, the Ohio legislature passed an act authorizing certain townships along the line of the road to vote a bonded indebtedness for aid in its construction. Among the townships which voted in favor of issuing bonds were Pleasant and Union, in Van Wert county; Dublin, in Mercer county; and Blue Creek, in Paulding county. The then commenced action to enforce collection, and the case drifted along through various courts. Judge Jackson, of the United States circuit court decided in favor of the bondholders. The case was finally settled ip January, 1891, by a decision of the United States supreme court de-

In the summer of 1888, the American Midland, or Mahoning railroad, was graded through the southern part of the county, parallel to the Nickel Plate, and about four miles south of it. The road then, like some of its predecessors, passed into a quiet sleep from which it was fully awakened in the fall of 1891. Two trunk lines pass through Paulding county east and west; and the Mackinaw, an excellent road, cleaves her 'center north and south. Upon the prospects of the Mahoning road the villages of Grover Hill and Mandale were located upon its line in the county.