Sandusky County, Ohio - Chapter 16: County Roads, 1882

Chapter 16: County Roads

Macadamized and Gravelled Roads in the County - Date of Building - Persons Prominently Connected with their Construction, and their Cost and Benefits.

THE man who, seated in a fine carriage, with perhaps wife, or sweetheart, or bride at his side, drives pleasantly along the good roads of to-day at the rate of from six to ten miles per hour, or the anxious one who has occasion to ride post-haste over the same road for a surgeon or physician, is not very likely to think of, nor thank the men who devised, and toiled, gave their time and money, and contended for the building of the structure which saves him or them from wallowing through the mud and mire which used to be there. The same may be said of the farmer as he, comfortably seated on his great load of produce or building material, jogs comfortably along without stalling, strain, or breakage. But history would not be just without making some specific mention of such improve- ! ments and of the men who contended for and executed them. Therefore we mention in our chapter on improvements, the macadamized roads made under the authorities of the county, and some of the men connected with the construction of them.

The law under and by virtue of which these roads were made, provided that on the application of a majority of land owners whose land would be subjected to a charge for the construction of the road, the county commissioners might appoint three viewers or commissioners, and a surveyor or engineer, to view the route proposed for the road, and if the construction of the road should, in their opinion, be required by the public convenience, they should also report an estimate of the cost of construction, and a description of the land which, in their judgment, should be taxed to pay for the work. They also reported the form of the road and the materials to be used, whether gravel or stone, and the I width and thickness to which the material should be laid on. On the filing of this report commissioners might approve the same and order the construction of the road, The commissioners were also empowered to issue bonds of the county bearing interest, and sell them to raise the money necessary to carry on the work. To pay the interest and principal of the bonds an assessment was made on the land, to be paid in instalments as taxes are paid, and these assessments were charged against the lots and tracts respectively, on the tax duplicate of the county, and collected by the county treasurer and applied to the redemption of the bonds.

This brief outline of the statute governing the construction of free turnpikes in Ohio will serve to help the reader to understand better what follows on the subject.

The Greensburg Macadamized Road

Ever since about 1831 settlers had been locating in the southwestern part of the county. Among the county roads laid out about that time was one from near James Moore's mill, in Ball ville township, thence due west on section lines, to near the northwest corner of section ten in Jackson township, where the road angled southward through sections, until it intersected the south line of section eight in the same township, a little west of the southeast corner of the section, and where the village of Millersville now stands. From there the line ran due west through Greensburg on section lines, to the west line of the county, a distance of about | fourteen miles and a half from the starting point. To describe the difficulties of travelling and the still greater difficulties of hauling heavy loads over this road, is needless to those who have had experience with roads in new, level, timbered countries. True, the inhabitants had done much in mending and draining the road from time to time, but with all they could do, more than half the way for about half the year was mud, or if a dry surface was

# On the 6th of March, 1867, Martin Wright and one hundred and twenty-eight others, owners of land along this road, filed their petition with the county commissioners, asking them to take the necessary proceedings to macadamize this road. The county commissioners at the time were Benjamin Inman, Samuel E. Watters, and Henry Reiling. A bond to pay all expenses of view, survey, etc., in case the report should be against the request of the petitioners, was filed by Martin Wright and Lewis K. Wright, of Scott township. On filing the bond the commissioners appointed William E. Haynes, Charles *G. Green, and Hiram Haff, viewers, and Beman Amsden surveyor. These men performed their respective duties, and on the fourth of June, 1867, reported that in their opinion the prayer of the petitioners ought to be granted. They also viewed the land to be benefited by the road, and recommended that the road be graded twenty-two feet wide on top, and that twelve feel in width of the twentytwo, be covered with stone to the thickj ness of one foot. The viewers' and engi- 1 needs estimate of the cost of the road, was for grading, one thousand nine hun- | dred and thirty-six dollars, and for macadi amizing, twenty-three thousand four hundred and sixty-three dollars and fifty cents; making a total estimated cost of twenty-five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine dollars and fifty cents. The last paragraph of this report is as follows:

We cannot conclude without commending to your favorable consideration the prayers of the petitioners, who are intelligent, prudent men, many of them large land owners and tax payers, and we respectfully, but earnestly recommend that you order the improvement, as provided by law.

There was no remonstrance against the proposed improvement, and no claim for damages by reason of it, as is shown by the commissioners record. The work was promptly begun, bonds for the payment of the costs of construction were issued, and taxes, or rather assessments, levied upon the land to be benefited to meet the payment of the bonds, and Commissioner Inman gave his special attention and much time to directing and superintending the work. There was, as a matter of course, some contention among the land owners, in the apportionment of the burden of assessment each tract should bear. Such contention is almost inseparable from the prosecution of every improvement in town, city or country where there is to be an apportionment of the expenses of the work. But these wranglings have an end, which usually terminates in the dissatisfaction of part of those who have to pay out their money, for a perfectly satisfactory adjustment of such burden is seldom, if ever, arrived at. So blinding is the effect of selfishness on the perceptions of men that it is doubtful whether in such a case all would be satisfied if the most perfect equity could be made to operate on such an apportionment. Mr. Inman being a resident of Scott township, a land owner to be benefited, as well as one of the county commissioners, and as such, exercising a kind of special supervision over the work, received the chief animadversions of the dissatisfied. But Benjamin Inman was an honest man and bore the unfavorable commenls of some of his esteemed neighbors with patience and silence, though with pain and regret, until shame silenced the dissatisfied ones, and time vindicated and made clear his honesty of purpose, as well as sound judgment concerning the work.

three hundred and twenty-one dollars and ninety-one cents, being fourteen thousand nine hundred and twenty-two dollars and forty-one cents more than the estimated cost as returned by the viewers and engineer; the actual cost per mile being a fraction less than two thousand eight hundred dollars.

William E. Lay Road Macadamized

On the 4th day of December, 1867, William E. Lay and forty others, constituting a majority of the owners of land to be affected, petitioned the commissioners of the county for the macadamizing or gravelling of the county road, on the following routes: Beginning at the Lake Shore railroad, in Clyde, thence south on the east line of section 23, 26, and 35, in Green Creek township, to the county line between Sandusky and Seneca counties. Bond was given by C. G. Eaton, J. M. Lemmon, and William W. Wales.

The county commissioners, namely, Benjamin Inman, David Fuller, and Henry Reiling, at their December session, 1867, appointed Andrew Smith, Hiram Haff, and John Orwig viewers, and Jeremiah Evans, surveyor. These viewers and the surveyor met according to notice, at the store of Darwin E. Harkness, in the village of Clyde, on the 15th day of January, 1868. They reported on the 3d day of March, 1868, that no claim for damage had been made, and recommended that the improvements be made as prayed for, by macadamizing or gravelling the same; that the road be opened sixty feet wide, j top of roadway to be eighteen feet wide j and covered with broken stone or gravel.

! The viewers and surveyor reported their I estimate of the cost of the work to be as | follows: For grading, eight hundred dol- | lars; for gravelling, three thousand six ! hundred dollars; making a total of estimated cost of four thousand four hun-

The road was constructed according to the recommendation of the viewers and engineer, and finished about the beginning of 1870, at a total cost of ten thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven dollars and sixteen cents, or at the rate of two thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven dollars per mile.

This William E. Lay road improvement was made under regulations and proceedings like those by which the Greensburg improvement was made, and a repetition of them would be superfluous.

The Fremont And South Creek Macadamized Road

On the petition of Charles H. Bell and others for the macadamizing of that part of the State road which lies between the east line of the city of Fremont and Bark Creek, and on filing the proper bond signed by C. H. Bell and J. H. McArdle, on the 9th of December, 1868, the county commissioners, namely: Benjamin Inman, Henry Reiling, and David Fuller, appointed Platt Brush, A. B. Putman, and Jonas Smith, viewers, and Jeremiah Evans, surveyor. These were ordered to meet at A. B. Putman's office, in Fremont, on the 1 8th of February, 1869, which they did, proceeded to the discharge of their duties, and ruported to the commissioners on the 6th day of March following. Their report was in favor of making the improvement, and they reported also that they estimated the cost of the work at nine thousand eight hundred and fifty-two dollars and eighty cents. Like proceedings were had as in the cases of the other improvements, and the macadamizing of this road was completed to South Creek about 1872, at a total cost of fourteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-six dollars and seventy cents, exceeding the statement by

The length of this improvement is three miles and a half, with stone macadamized track nine feet in width, at an actual cost of four thousand four hundred and thirteen dollars per mile*, paid for by the land owners benefited.

The Fremont And Port Clinton Road Improvement

The macadamizing of that part of the road leading from Fremont to Port Clinton which lies between the north boundary of the city of Fremont and the south line of Rice township, was petitioned for by Andrew Engler and others. On May 4, 1874, bond was given, and Oscar Ball, Christian Doncyson, and Barney Donahu were appointed viewers. Their report was favorable, and the work was executed at an actual cost of six thousand and eightynine dollars and thirty-five cents. The estimated cost of this improvement was not found on the record of the proceedings, and is therefore not given here, nor is it deemed very material. The proceedings in the matter of this improvement were like those of the others above mentioned. The improvement is an important one, especially on that part of the road through the Whittaker reserve, where the road had been notoriously bad for a great many years.

The reader may notice that in these works the actual cost is far in excess of the amount estimated by the viewers, in every instance, this excess being nearly fifty per cent, above the estimate. This shows that estimates are as unreliable in these works as in the estimates for building houses, or any other work men undertake. The experience of persons who have built a house or a barn will confirm the assertion that the only safe way to proceed is to add about fifty per cent, to the

The history of these roads is perhaps neither exciting nor attractive to the reader, but it will serve hereafter to mark the time when the people of the county began to realize that it does not pay to travel in deep mud when a little expense will give them a firm, dry wagon way, and that by comfort in travel, and cheapening the expense of transportation of produce and merchandise over the road, the outlay is very soon balanced, and the well-improved road thereafter, by repairingonly, will remain a permanent source of economical saving to the community.

property of the entire county, and the particular locality thereby relieved from further special assessments. The aggregate cost of the macadamized roads made by the county commissioners, at this writing (1881), is seventy-one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five dollars and twelve cents. There have been portions of some of the other roads in the county macadamized by appropriations from time to time from the county and township road funds, the cost of which cannot well be ascertained. The people are now quite alive to improvement of roads, and ere long Sandusky county will be a delightful land to drive through, on good roads, and not a toll-gate on any of them, excepting the Maumee and Western Reserve turnpike, which is controlled and managed by the State.