Zanesville City (part 5 of 5)

In the spring of 1840 Henry and F. J. L. Blandy, with $5,000.00 borrowed capital, erected a foundry on the site of their subsequent extensive works, in Underwood street, and began the manufacture of a line of plows and stoves, which became very popular; about 1850 the plant was enlarged and the manufacture of tools and machinery was added, and when the Central Ohio Railroad was constructed several locomotives for its use were built at the Blandy works; the business did not prove satisfactory and they became pioneers of the world in producing portable steam engines, and saw mills, and made the first successful portable lumber cutting apparatus ; their trade grew to be world wide, and the Blandy engines and saw mills were operated in every civilized country, and the business developed to such proportions that the entire block in Underwood street from Elm to Tarrier, was covered with a threestory brick building.

The Civil war checked the trade, but with the return of peace business took on its former proportions, and an auxiliary plant was purchased at Newark: about 10 p. m., Saturday, August 25, 1866, a fire broke out in the paint shop, on the second floor, at the north end of the building, and the entire plant was destroyed, entailing a loss of $200,000.00 with an insurance of only $15,000.00, the blow staggered but did not overthrow the proprietors, and when the salesmen came home when the calamity was learned, the courageous owners sent them out immediately with the statement that orders were more than ever needed; the Newark plant was taxed to its capacity, and the reconstruction of the Underwood street works was rushed to completion. A more prosperous career followed until the panic of 1873, when the Blandys shared in the general depression, and in 1879 the first check in the success of the business occurred in the death of Henry, the senior of the firm; the business was continued by F. J. L. Blandy, who became financially embarrassed, and at his death, in 1884, the works were operated by his widow.

The Blandy Machine Company

was incorporated in 1889, to conduct the business, and in the summer of that year took possession, but was unable to restore the prestige of the works as maintained by Henry Blandy, and was incorporated, in the summer of 1898, bought out the Blandy Machine Company, and began operating the works as a general machine shop with no specialty in the line of manufacture.

The Brown Manufacturing Company

was incorporated June 23, 1873, by Peter Black, Thomas E. Sturgeon, W. A. Graham, W. S. Harlan and M. Churchill, and July 28, the first directors were chosen, viz: Peter Black, president and treasurer; W. P. Brown, general superintendent ; M. Churchill, F. J. L. Blandy, Thomas Griffith, James Herdman and W. A. Graham. Mr. W. P. Brown and Oliver C. Ong, who was chosen secretary, were the promoters, and active operating officers of the company which was formed to manufacture wagons and agricultural implements, and both remained until death severed their connection with the business. Mr. Ong died September 13, 1885, and Mr. Brown, January 27, 1888.

The original plant was quite extensive, and was totally destroyed by fire July 23, 1882, the office building and some lumber alone being saved ; the loss was in excess of $100,000.00, but the works were immediately rebuilt and additions have been made until the present plant encloses an aggregate floor space of seven acres, all the buildings being protected with automatic fire extinguishing apparatus. The average working force is three hundred men, and the establishment has long been one of the leading industries of the city.

Griffith And Wedge Company

When the financial panic of 1857 engulfed Ebert and Lowdan, Thomas Griffith and G. W. Ebert continued the business of a general machine shop in the former works, and in 1858 Francis Wedge purchased the Ebert interest, and the firm of Griffith and Wedge engaged in the manufacture of portable engines. November 29, 1870, AIr. Wedge obtained patents on a vertical portable engine, the first of its kind, the former types having been horizontals, and with so radical an improvement in the engine the business assumed large proportions, and other forms of machinery were produced. Mr. Griffith died in 1884, and in 1885 the Griffith and Wedge Company was incorporated and the following officers chosen: Francis Wedge, president; Charles D. Wedge, vice president; Edward Cigax, secretary and treasurer ; John Wedge and J. A. Crotzer; March, 1893, Mr. Wedge died, and the present officers are: John Hoge, president; C. D. Wedge, vice president and manager: Edward Gigax, secretary and treasurer. The company now makes a specialty of the Ohio Corliss engine, one of the highest types of engines, and clay working machinery. The plant embraces iron and brass foundries, machine, boiler, blacksmith and pattern shops and an extensive drawing room; only the most skilled mechanics are employed, and every product is wrought from drawings.

Harris Brick Company

In 1863 William B., Charles O., and George C. Harris, as the Harris Brothers, began the manufacture of brick, east of the city, near Greenwood cemetery, about the first product being employed in the erection of the residence of W. B. Harris; and during the first ten years of the business the kilns were built up of brick and daubed with clay. Permanent kilns were then introduced, and the firm made the first pressed brick west of the Ohio river. The business became very extensive, and with the introduction of the so-called vitrified street paver they engaged in their manufacture. In 1897 the business passed to a corporation, known as The Harris Brick Company, with the following first officers: John B. Baxter, president; John T. Granger, vice president; Charles H. Magie, secretary; Edmund N. Hatcher, manager. The present plant is modern in every respect, and has a capacity of 90,000 brick per day.

During the fall of 1891 J. B. Owens came to Zanesville, from Roseville, and erected a brick building 100 feet square, with two kilns, upon a large tract of land along the Terminal Railway, west of Brighton. The J. B. Owens Pottery Company was incorporated with $100,000.00 capital, to conduct the business of manufacturing flower pots and painted clay ware, and the first goods were produced in the spring of 1892. Additions, of three and four stories, were made to the original brick structure almost annually, as demanded by the increasing business, until 175. 000 square feet of floor space, and ten kilns were emploved. In 1896 the former grades of clay goods were abandoned, and glazed, ornamental ware produced on such extensive lines that eight hundred kinds and sizes of pottery, embracing sixteen distinct lines of art pottery, and various articles of utility and ornamentation, are produced. In 1898 the capital was increased to $300,000.00, and in the spring of 1902 the entire plant was destroyed by fire; reconstruction was immediately begun and the new plant, two and three stories in height, with twelve kilns, has been so conveniently designed that the minimum cost of operation has been attained. The present officers are, J. B. Owens, president, treasurer and general manager ; F. G. Dodd, vice president: A. W. Burg, secretary; George S. Brush and J. N. Owens, Roseville, directors.

Mark Manufacturing Company

MARK MANUFACTURING COMPANY. During 1900 Zanesville was agitated in consequence of a proposition to erect an immense plant for the manufacture of tubes, to be independent of the recently organized "trust ;" it was represented that capitalists in Pittsburg, Philadelphia, New York and other eastern cities were prepared to invest $600,000.00 if Zanesville would subscribe to bonds of the concern to the amount of $150,- 000.00 ; the business men of the city promptly took the amount and the premises formerly occupied by the shops of the Z. & O. R. R., and A. O. Jones Brick works, both of which had been destroyed by fire, were secured ; this tract was immediately south of and adjoining Putnam, and covered an area of about forty-six acres.

Immense quantities of earth were brought in by rail and the surface elevated above the recorded high water mark; the foundations for the buildings and machinery were laid in the most substantial manner and the superstructures were of structural steel; operations were begun in I9OI, but the representations made respecting the eastern capital were not fulfilled, and for lack of capital the plant was placed in receiver's hands, May 21, 1903; at a commissioner's sale, March 19, 1904, it was purchased by the Mark Manufacturing Company, a partnership consisting of Cyrus \lark and his two sons, Clayton and Anson, the latter of whom is now the resident manager of the plant. The purchasers were experienced men in the business, having extensive plants at Evanston, Illinois, where well goods and specialties are produced: the Zanesville plant is devoted to the manufacture of boiler tubes, well casing and other forms of pipe, ranging from one-eight inch to sixteen inches in diameter. The capacity of the plant is 350 tons per day and can employ 1,000 men, the present force being 700.

The Ohio Pottery Company

September 17, 1900, Alvah P. Clark and Jacob Burgy. of Zanesville, and Charles W. Reynolds, Charles R. Applegate and Shepard M. Humston, of Beverly, Ohio, were incorporated as The Ohio Pottery Company for the manufacture of stoneware specialties, and September 28th directors were elected as follows: C. W. Reynolds, president: F. H. Herdman, vice president ; A. P. Clark, secretary, treasurer and general manager, Pe Burgy, superintendent; C. R. Applegate. ithe plant is located in Owen's addition, west of srighton, and consists of five brick buildings, one and two stories in height, and a kiln shed containing five kilns.

Mosaic Tile Company

The incorporation of the company was effected September 4, 1894, and the first meeting of the stockholders was held September 8, 1894, in the city council chamber when the following directors were chosen: David Lee, president; W. M.

Bateman, vice president ; W. M. Shinnick, secretary and treasurer; J]. Hope Sutor, H. C. Mueller, Karl Langenbeck, Edmund Moeser, E. Ebert Peabody and W. E. Miller, directors. A tract of five acres was secured on the Cooper Mill road, opposite the Fair Grounds, in Brighton, upon which the plant was constructed in the most modern and substantial manner ; additions were made during 1896, 1900 and 1904, which have increased the capacity of the works more than three fold the original design. Floor and wall tile, of the highest class, are produced and the combined output of the American Encaustic and Mosaic Tile works is more than half the tile production of the United States, and the peer and in some respects the superior of imported ware.

Muskingum Coffin Company

August 23, 1881, T. J. Newman, Joseph Shaw, L. D. Sandel, Wilbur F. McCoy, Thomas W. Gattrell, S. E. Stranathan and James T. Irvine executed articles of association and were incorporated as The Muskingum Coffin Company, to engage in the manufacture of general undertaking supplies. Books of subscription were opened and September 29, 1881, directors were elected and October 15th they organized as follows: T. J. Newman, president; George W. Shaw, vice president ; Joseph T. Gorsuch, treasurer; James De levine .W. FP) ificGoy, LD. Sandel and S, E. Stranathan, directors, and Joseph Shaw, secretary and manager.

The Kaemmerer mill, a three-story brick and frame structure on the south side of Main street at the east end of the "Y" bridge, was purchased and equipped for the business, which had grown to such proportions that in May, 1888, the threestory brick building, 60 by 120 feet, on the south side of Main street, east of First, was erected, and occupied in December as office and wareroom, and the enterprise is now one of the leading businesses of the city.

Pinkerton Tobacco Company

In 1884 a partnership was formed. under the title of the Pinkerton Tobacco Company, and began the manufacture of ''scrap" chewing tobacco, while the Pinkerton Brothers were engaged in the wholesale grocery business, in Fourth street. The enterprise was successful from the beginning and in 1900 was incorporated and the business moved to the former flour mill. at southwest corner of Locust and Potter alleys. Which was soon outgrown and the two three-story store rooms fronting on Third street were added. and in 1904 a five-story brick building was erected on the south, adjoining the original plant, and is heing equipped with the latest and most unproyved machinery, appliances and conveniences, and when ready for occupancy will give the company a factory with a ground area of 100 by 132 feet, and with buildings three and five stories high. The high grade goods produced and the strict and honorable business principles observed have been potent factors in effecting the success which has attended the company's operations ; it is financially strong and prosperous and ranks among the city's most important manufacturing establishments.

The Roseville Pottery Company

THE ROSEVILLE POTTERY COMPANY operates four potteries, the principal of which is located at the north end of Linden avenue, at Zanesville, "where town and country meet," as the company states in its handsome pamphlet descriptive of its art products. The company was incorporated in 1892 and began business at Roseville by purchasing the plant started about 188s, by J. B. Owens; the works have three kilns and are still employed in the manufacture of flower pots, cuspidors and painted ware. In 1898 the Midland Pottery, with three kilns at Roseville, was added to the pottery of the Roseville Company, and continues to produce stoneware specialties. The combined annual output of the two Roseville plants is valued at $100,000.00 and about 100 people are employed.

The Linden avenue plant, at Zanesville, was originally a three-story brick structure, with three kilns, erected by The Clark Stoneware Company about 1892, for the manufacture of stoneware specialties; the period of inception was inauspicious and it could not maintain itself during the protracted depression in business and in 1898 the Roseville Company acquired the property ; in 1899 a three-story brick building, 50 by 156 feet, was built and in the succeeding year a fourth story was added and a three-story brick addition made to the original building; the kiln shed was enlarged to accommodate the ten kilns required for the business, and in 1903 a two-story brick office and sample room was erected.

The Linden avenue works were devoted entirely to the production of painted ware but in 1900-1 Rosane ware was developed; the designs are hand work and the motive is "to preserve with natural effect original works in oils and water colors," upon imperishable clay, instead of canvass, the form of the vessel being itself graceful and an object of beauty. The working force consists of about 200 people and the annual output is valued at $350,000.00.

In 19or the old pottery, at Muskingum avenue and Harrison street, in Putnam, which had been operated by the Mosaic Tile Company, as an auxiliary, was purchased by the Roseville Company and devoted to the manufacture of a line

The present officers of the company are George B. Emerson, president; J. F. Weaver, vice president; G. F. Young, secretary, treasurer and general manager.

About 1873, S. A. Weller, a young potter, planted a commercial acorn at Fultonham, Ohio, in the form of a small pottery, with the crude machinery and appliances of the period, and manufactured plain, unpainted flower pots and similar ware, which he went upon the road and sold: about 1882 he leased a frame building in South Second street, which he used as a wareroom, and in 1888 transferred his factory to a small frame plant on the river bank, at the foot of Pierce street, in Putnam.

In 1890 he purchased the old show grounds in Putnam, abutting on the railroad between Pierce street and Cemetery Drive. and erected a brick factory fronting on Pierce street, and abandoned the pottery on the river bank and the wareroom in Second street. The manufacture was then begun of painted flower pots, jardinieres, cuspidors, hanging baskets, umbrella stands, etc. In 1893 an addition along the alley front was built, in which, in addition to the previous line. the first fancy glazed goods were produced in Zanesville ; in 1894 another addition was necessary and the building was extended to Cemetery Drive, and occupied in December. The "Rookwood" ware had been the only art pottery manufactured in the West. and upon the completion of the new building Mr. Weller associated with him Air. W. A. Long, of Steubenville, in the production of "Lonhulda" ware, but the association terminated a year later, and Mr. Weller began the production of an art ware styled Louwelsa," a word coined from the three first letters of the name of his daughter, Louise. the first three letters of his sirname and his initials.

\av 10, 1895, the new buildings and their contents were entirely destroved by fire, the original Pierce street building and its contents alone being preserved, but on the following day the labor of clearing away the debris was begun and the re-erected plant was ready for occupancy :n October. In 1900 the business had outgrown the Putnam plant and there being insufficient eround for the required enlargement, the original plant of the American Encaustic Tiling Company, in the Marietta road, was purchased, remodeled and put into commission in IgoI for the production of cooking and _ toilet utensils, common flower pots and the cheap ornamental pottery. In 1901 an addition to the Putnam plant was built on Cemetery Drive, the art ware stock room

In January, 1901, Jacques Sicard, of Golfe Juan, France, and his assistant, Henri Gellie, came to America to introduce Metallic Lustre Pottery, and learning of the Weller factory, came to Zanesville and were engaged by Mr. Weller to produce Sicardo ware, respecting which China, Glass and Pottery Review says: "is destined to take its place among the highest grade art pottery of the world. - The vases are first treated all over with a secret metallic preparation, and then decorated in floral and other art effects, with chemically prepared metallic pigments. - which make the most perfect color schemes and which are absolutely permanent."

In 1904 a model, modern pottery was erected at St. Louis, in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition grounds, in which the most effectual machinery was installed, kilns erected and ar actual pottery operated by skilled workmen sent from the Zanesville plant; the various processes \vere demonstrated, from the grinding and washing of the clay to the decoration and burning, the plant being under AIr. Weller's personal supervision. A similar exhibit was made at the Lewis and Clark exposition at Portland, Oregon.

In 1868 T. B. Townsend began the manufacture of brick at the north end of Seventh street, and on the site of the present extensive plant, in the east end of the city; primitive methods were emploved and in 1882 R. C. Burton became a partner and the business was conducted as T. B. Townsend & Company. In 1885 the top or alluvial clay, from which the brick had been made, was exhausted and the underlying shale was experimentally tested, with surprising satisfactory results, and the modern, vitrified, building and paving brick were originated. The first permanent kilns were erected in 1885 and in 1890 the business was incorporated as the T. B. Townsend Brick and Contracting Company.

Although engaged in the manufacture of brick, \Ir. Townsend and his partners were engaged also in the general contracting line until 1900, and the court house, jail, Clarendon Hotel, John \IcIntire Children's Home and nearly all the important buildings in the city were built by them, and their operations extended to other cities and localities; they laid large quantities of the brick pacing in the city of Zanesville and constructed eleven bridges across the Muskingum river, between Marietta and Dresden.

The original plant has fourteen kilns and a capacity of 100,000 brick per day, the output now being confined to vitrified pavers and sewer brick, and common building brick, and their goods have been shipped to the city of Mexico, and in the United States to points as distant as Boston, Saginaw, Michigan, and Illinois cities.

A new plant is about completed, 1905, with ten kilns and a daily output of 50,000 brick, which is located on the Belt Line, one mile east of the original plant, and between them lies 110 acres of shale lands, the raw material being excavated to the level of the vein of No. 6 coal and the refuse is deposited in the vast ravines so prevalent in the neighborhood, and eventually will transform the topography of the section.

Zanesville Gas Light Company

March 24, 1849, the General Assembly passed an act incorporating The Zanesville Gas Light Company, with James L. Cox, James V. Cushing, George A. Jones, Adam Peters, William Galigher. John A. Adams, George James and Joseph Galigher as the incorporators and an authorized capital of fifty thousand dollars. A meeting was at once called at George James' office, on Fourth street on ground now occupied by the court house, at which Mr. James presided and William Galigher acted as secretary; the charter was accepted and books of subscription to the stock were ordered opened; on April 14th more than four hundred shares had been subscribed and a meeting for organization was called for May 2d, at Mr. James' office, when 618 shares were reported taken; John T. Fracker presided and S. S. Mann served as secretary, by-laws were adopted and William Galigher, James L. Cox, S. S. Mann, A. C. Ross and George James were elected directors.

Operations were immediately commenced and while the pipes were being laid Alexander B. Campbell fell into an open ditch and died from the effects of his injuries; no responsibility for the accident attached to the company, but "as an act of humanity," as the minutes state, the funeral expenses were assumed and a pension of $10.00 per month was voted his widow for one year. The works were erected in North Sixth street, and during November, 1849, gas was furnished the citizens ; about 1856 the service was extended to Putnam, and about 1870 to Natchez and West Zanesville, one of the conditions by which the residents of the latter village were persuaded to vote for annexation being that there should be street lighting by gas.

Iron pipe cost $78.00 per ton and was difficult to obtain, and about 5,000 feet of wooden pipe, made at Bay City, Michigan, was purchased and laid; one portion commenced at Linden and Mc-

Intire avenues, along McIntire and Maple avenues to Adair; another, on West Main street, from the "Y" bridge to Ridge avenue, and the third from Greenwood along Hamline avenue to the residence of Henry Blandy. All of this pipe was in service about fifteen years and during the excavation, in 1905, of the trench for a brick sewer along Maple avenue the wooden pipe was exhumed and found to be in a perfect state of preservation. The sections were of soft pine, about seven feet in length, with an interior caliper of three inches ; the pipe was coated with tar and the joints were uniformly turned, and fitted with exactness.

Clarendon Hotel

It may appear incongruous to mention a hotel in connection with the existing, leading industries of the city but the Clarendon certainly is entitled to the distinction, as it has done much to give Zanesville an enviable reputation. Erected upon a site which has been employed for hotel purposes for nearly a century, the building was erected 1877-78, by Peter Black and W. A. Graham; designed as a model house of entertainment, as the Schultz' Opera House was a model as a house of amusement, it was at the time of its completion the most perfect hotel building in the state, as to solidity and security of construction, variety and completeness of comforts and conveniences and beauty of interior and exterior decoration. The "host" was selected with the same care that marked the design and construction of the building and under the successive managers to A. P. and J. W. Rusk who now conduct it, the house has been known as "Ohio's famous hotel," and for many years, until other cities emulated the example of Zanesville, travelers came from distant points to spend Sunday at this incomparable hostelry.

Natural Gas

was first furnished the citv of Zanesville in November, 1898, by the Great Southern Gas and Oil Company; the gas was obtained from the Sugar Grove field and conveyed to Zanesville in eight-inch pipes, and a reducing station was erected south of the citv. In June, 1902, the Ohio Fuel Supply Company came into possession of the property and in the spring of 1903 connected the city with the Licking-Knox fields by an eight-inch line. As both the Sugar Grove and Licking-Knox fields are connected with Columbus, a circuit is made and an interruption in the supply from either field would not affect the supply at Zanesville, as it could be procured by even so indirect a route as the entire circuit.

Source changes here: from Zanesville and Muskingum County Ohio, by Thomas W. Lewis, published 1927; 6,988 words in this source stream.

Zanesville City

Continuing the records of rural subdivisions it is in order to mention Zanesville Township, which the county commissioners created July 2, 1819, with the following boundaries:

"Beginning on the Muskingum River on the line dividing the twelfth and thirteenth ranges; thence North to the military line; thence East to the line dividing the sixth and seventh ranges; thence North with said line to the line dividing the second townships of ranges six and seven; thence West to the Muskingum River and down it with the meanderings to the place of beginning." The tract embraced nearly all of what became Washington and Wayne townships and the city East of the river.

In or about the year 1817 a Philadelphian of evident importance made a trip as far West as Evansville, Indiana, which had for its main purpose a survey of the state of American industries and their ability to compete with foreign rivals. On his return to Ohio he interviewed Governor Thomas Worthington on this subject and found that official "well convinced of the necessity of, or at least of the great benefit that would result from the general establishment of these (manufactories) in the United States."

The traveler's next stop was at Zanesville and here he seems to have found new evidence that Americans could, if they would, produce manufactured articles of such quality and at such cost as to enable them to become industrially independent of the English. He wrote thus of Zanesville:

Zanesville'S Big Four

"This place has the four elements in the greatest perfection that I have anywhere yet seen in America. As to manufacturers, it is like Wheeling and Steubenville, nothing in comparison to Pittsburgh. Nature has done her part. Nothing is left wanting but machines to enable the people of Ohio to keep their flour at home instead of exporting it, at their own expense, to support those abroad who are industrious enough to send them back coats, knives and cups and saucers."

Our traveler must have found features in Zanesville prices which in some way reinforced his arguments in favor of domestic manufactories, as he quoted them very freely in his letter. They are so interesting in themselves that we reproduce following wage scale. Many Zanesville workingmen of the present time draw as much for an hour's work as their predecessors drew here 109 years ago for a day's work:

"Stone masons and bricklayers, per day and board and lodgings, $1.50; plasterers, by the square yard, they finding themselves in board and lodging and in lime, sand, lath and everything they use, 1534 cénts; carpenters, by the day; who find themselves and bring their tools, $1.25; blacksmiths, by the month, found in board, lodging and tools, $30 to $40; millrights, per day, finding themselves, $1.50 to $2.00."

Quickened By The Dam

The completion of the McIntire dam at the foot of Market Street had quickened industrial development at the mouth of the Licking. One result was the construction of a three-story frame grist mill north of that stream. It had for wheat "two run of buhr stones" and for corn its capacity was half that for wheat. The stones, purchased in Philadelphia and freighted to Zanesville at a cost of $900, were six feet in diameter. The water was conveyed through a small race. The builders of this plant, an important one for the time, were George Jackson, Nathan Findlay, Jeremiah Dare, Daniel Convers, Jeffrey Price, James Taylor, Samuel Thompson, Thomas L. Pierce, Christian Spangler and Alex. Adair. The firm was Jackson & Co. A sawmill and flax-seed mill were later added. The latter was operated by Richard Fairlamb.

A Bit Of Strategy

An industrial venture on the part of Thomas Adams, James Crosby and Thomas L. Pierce brought proof that a home-made manufacture is as likely to be without honor in its own country as a prophet. In 1817 these worthies manufactured sickles, scythes, axes, etc., which were quite as good as out-of-town products, but buyers were skeptical and the makers resorted to the plan of shipping their output to Pittsburg and having the articles branded "Pittsburg Manufacturing Co." When shipped back to Zanesville and put on sale the local public and western buyers took very kindly to them. One authority states that this continued until 1848.

"George Brooke has taken the clothing works at the mouth of Licking, West Zanesville, the property of Isaac Dillon, to full, dye and dress woolen ponder

The building referred to stood at the lower end of River Street (Linden Avenue), North side, between the B. & O. tracks and the Licking, until torn down in 1902. It was a two-story brick, with a basement.

More Industries

George E. Clapp at this period (1817) leased from Putnam and Whipple the woolen mill which they had erected in 1815 at the Putnam end of the Third Street bridge. At a later period it was leased to Joseph R. Thomas and later still it became the Beaumont & Hollingsworth grist mill. Thomas also became owner, during the period which this chapter covers, of the Putnam Manufacturing Co.'s plant, which in 1815 had been erected for the manufacture of cotton goods. The stockholders were Ebenezer Buckingham, three shares; Levi Whipple and Edwin Putnam, two shares each; Stephen C. Smith, Moses Smith, N. C. Findlay, Horace Nye and Jeremiah Dare, one share each. Two additional shares went to Whipple and Putnam for water privileges. The mill stood between the Putnam & Whipple structure and the bridge.

Another Bit Of Progress

It will be seen, in the light of the foregoing paragraphs, that our county seat and its trans-river neighbors were making steady progress toward the independence hoped for by the visitor from Philadelphia. Industrial Zanesville was on her feet and taking firm steps toward the goal which her best early friends believed would be reached.

But other kinds of progress went on during this period, which may be described as including the closing years of the town's second decade. For instance, a new home for amusements and public meetings came into being and made it no longer necessary to depend upon the Senate Chamber, the "concert room" of the Burnham tavern or the schoolroom in the Frazee tavern (at Sixth Street and Locust Alley).

This new public hall is recorded as having been erected in 1818 on the East side of Fifth Street, just North of Main, "as an addition to a two-story frame which stood at the Main Street corner." The new structure was a three-story brick, 28 by 78 feet. On the second floor was the new hall and in it balls, concerts and dramatic entertainments were held. It had a portable stage and for a time at least was declared to be the best of its kind west of the Ohio River. It is said that Julia Dean appeared on that stage when a child of five and that this was her first public performance.

First Fire Company

Another step forward was taken when wide awake citizens organized a fire company. The call for organization appeared in the Express on December 22, 1819 and read:

"The subscribers to the Fire Engine company are requested to meet at the Court House on Thursday, Dec. 23, at two o'clock, p.m., for the purpose of organizing, electing officers and transacting such business as may be necessary."

Effective action followed. Forty members were secured and the name "Union Fire Engine Company" was adopted. Among these originators were Michael and John Dalty, Adam and John Peters, Nathaniel and Charles Wilson, Richard and George Reeve, William Twaddle, Joseph Church, Nathaniel Sprague, D. Deffenbaugh and James Culbertson. It has been said of these that they were all property owners and business men and that they put out the fires "with as little water as

The Union had a hand engine and suction carriage, a few ladders and two buckets for each member, who kept his pair at home and ran with them to the fire when the alarm rang out. Remaining equipment was housed at Fourth Street and Fountain Alley. The engine and suction ropes were grasped by the men when a fire was on and the vehicles thus were brought to the point of danger by man power. When water was not at hand the bticket brigade got busy. - ^;^

These references to Zanesville's earliest fire company are meant 'merely to introduce the subject. It is hoped that our accounts of the organizations which followed the Union company will be such as to do merited justice to the volunteer firemen who fought the flames during the long period which elapsed before the inauguration of a paid fire department. These men saved many a property owner from ruin and taught their fellow citizens priceless lessons of service and sacrifice. The story of local development in the conflict with destructive fires is one of peculiar interest, so great is the contrast between the equipment of the Union and that of the fire stations of the present day.

Canal Map And Deeply Interested

WORK BEGAN AT LICKING SUMMIT-ZANESVILLE ARTILLERY WON HONORS - EBENEZER BUCKINGHAM A LEADING FIGURE - CITY ON THE CANAL MAP AND DEEPLY INTERESTED.

In an issue of 1816 or 1817 the Zanesville Express gave editorial expression to the hope that Zanesville's chances for water connection with Lake Erie might be realized without the intervention of long-drawn-out delay. This probably voiced the general local hope of the day. Doubtless all of Zanesville's forward-looking men were watching the progress of canal sentiment and calculating the chances the town would have to profit by an Ohio canal.

The canal question had been submitted to the legislature in December, 1816, by Governor Worthington. His special message was accompanied by a statement in behalf of interior water lines written by Governor De Witt Clinton of New York.

Propose Canal 339 Miles Long

Agitation bore fruit in 1820 when three commissioners were directed to locate a route for a canal to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. The commissioners' report was received in December, 1822, and on January 27, 1823, the legislature authorized the taking of steps to secure grants and donations. Estimates were submitted during the next winter.

In these it was shown that the Muskingum-Scioto route, via Killbuck and Black Rivers, including Cleveland, Columbus and Raccoon feeders, with an ascending lockage from the mouth of the Scioto to a summit level of 580.36 feet and descending lockage to Lake Erie of 488.97 feet, would cost $3,061,368.47, the total length of the route being 339 miles.

The second route on which estimates were submitted was by way of the Cuyahoga, Chippewa and Killbuck Rivers; ascending lockage from the Scioto, 638.42 feet, descending to Lake Erie, 547.03 feet; aggregate length, 338.57 miles ; cost $3,131,429.02.

The Miami-Maumee route: from Cincinnati to Lorimies, 511.4 feet ascending ; then descending to the foot of the Maumee rapids, 373 feet; length 290.62 miles; cost, including feeders, $2,929,957. February, 1825, the commissioners were

Ohio Forging Ahead

Ground was broken at Licking Summit, very appropriately on the Fourth of July, 1825. It was a memorable event in the history of Ohio. The state's growth had been extraordinary. This increase was in spite of the most primitive modes of communication. Communities living on the larger water courses were able at favorable seasons of the year to market their products by use of water craft, but there were times when that was impossible. The Muskingum, for instance, was called a navigable river in early days, but during even the spring, summer and fall there were periods each year when the water was too high or too low to make the word "navigable" a true one.

We know that salt was shipped on the Muskingum from the Chandlersville wells before the close of the eighteenth century. We have found that John Mc- Intire brought his household goods to Zanesville (1799) in a flatboat and shipped sawed lumber to this point from Beverly and Waterford a little later.

Saw Waterways' Value

Primitive traffic on the Muskingum increased steadily year by year. In an earlier chapter it was shown that even Muskingum County coal had begun to move to the markets, a flatboat load having in 1816 been loaded at Duncan Falls and conveyed down the Muskingum and the Ohio to Cincinnati. Great advantage did the settlers, upon and near the Muskingum, have over their fellow Buckeyes whose farms and shops were at inland points, but the recognition of this did not cause Zanesville to be indifferent toward the movement in favor of the proposed Lake Erie-Ohio River canal; it only keyed up her citizens to desire an extension of the town's shipping advantages. )

Very Bad Roads

There were especial reasons for wishing such an extension Northward, where the mighty expanse of Lake Erie lay and at the Eastern end of which was the canal connection with New York City via the Erie Canal. We shall show in later chapters what a point was made of this connection by Zanesville forwarders and merchants when it materialized. i

It was the state of the roads which was holding back Ohio development at the time here under discussion. Books could be written about the difficulties of vehicular transportation in early days and these difficulties did a great deal to create public sentiment in favor of canals.

riages and horses, we often became very miry. Here, a horse, after having plunged from deep to deep, becomes exhausted and expires; there, snap goes an axle or a wheel ; here, a whole team gets stalled - cut and slash goes the whip, but all in vain, the driver is obliged to unharness from the'mud his wagon and load piecemeal ; while there, a coach full of Kentucky nabobs - nabobesses - wenches and children and the whole, higgledly piggledy, tumble into the dirt."

Sample Trip To Columbus

These conditions continued for years later. One Isaac Appleton, a traveler from New England, made a trip from Zanesville to Columbus before the National road had been completed to the capital. His description of the trip proves that bad roads were not the only evils in the stage journeys of the time:

"From Zanesville to Columbus - 58 miles," he says, "we saw the wilderness in all its gloominess and experienced self-constructed roads in all their terror. We felt as if carried back to the times of the first settlers. Our vehicle, which in the dialect of the country was called a 'Spanker, was intended to carry four passengers and on this occasion was drawn by four strong horses at the rate of two miles an hour. |

"What with the recollections of the preceding day, the fearful anticipations of the future; the wintry winds driving through the stage; the warnings of the driver to be prepared for any and every hazard; the confessions of a timid traveler, of horses frightened by the howling of wolves, of stages overturned, of bones dislocated, and lives in jeopardy - all of which he had heard of, and some of which he had seen; what with traveling the livelong night and arriving in Columbus just before break of day and there finding four of the hotels at which we applied not only full but crowded, so that admittance for repose was out of the question."

Good Farms, Indifferent Markets

It is to be remembered that Ohio agriculture had made great progress. Fertile 'Buckeye soil was producing bounteous crops. Farmers needed transportation which would carry their surplus to the centers of population and to less productive sections. Isaac Zane, who has been referred to as builder of the mouth-of-the- Licking dam in 1810, owned a farm which in a decade or less had been energetically developed. Note what he said about it in the Express of August 11, 1813:

Sale - The farm whereon the subscriber lives, adjoining the towns of Zanesville and Springfield (Putnam), containing 300 acres of land, 100 of which is cleared and under fence. There is on the premises a good dwelling house, barn and other convenient out-houses. There are 250 bearing apple trees; 25 acres of good timothy meadow and the whole is in complete tenement repair - ISAAC ZANE."

Breaking Ground

The celebration held at Licking Summit on July 4, 1825, was a memorable and prophetic event in Zanesville eyes. The breaking of ground for the new canal on that day was the final step of prelimaries which had indicated chgice of the Muskingum route. That Zanesville soon was to be on a water coursé connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio no longer could be doubted.

In addition to the many Zanesville individuals in attendance that day at the Summit there was at least one organization - The Zanesville Artillery, a company which had been organized here during the war of 1812. This organization was given the honor of leading the procession which escorted Governors De Witt Clinton and Jeremiah Morrow, of New York and Ohio, respectively, from Newark to the Summit. On arrival at the latter point, there were suitable ceremonies, including the breaking of the ground. Governors Clinton and Morrow and our own Ebenezer Buckingham, one of the canal commissioners and who had been a powerful friend of the movement in the Legislature and out of it, each placed a shovelful of earth in a wheelbarrow and thus the canal was begun. A competitive military drill was on the program and the Zanesville company won the honors.

On North Sixth Street

ROBBED GRAVE IN OLD CEMETERY ON THE HILL - SECOND OUTRAGE 13 YEARS LATER IN MOXAHALA AVENUE BURIAL GROUND - MEDICAL STUDENTS NARROWLY ESCAPED MOB VENGEANCE - DROWNING CASE MOVED JOHN McINTIRE TO PROVIDE FIRST CEMETERY. IT STOOD ON NORTH SIXTH STREET.

John McIntire provided a burial ground for the Zanesville settlement early in its history, but it was not until 1816 that the borough itself took charge of one and placed it in the keeping of a sexton. The hill graveyard, which has given place to Pioneer Park, came into use in 1807.

The first body buried there was that of Elijah Hart, which was laid away on Sunday, March 18, 1807. Other burials followed without regard to system. When graves were dug no records were kept. The markers used were of wood, which soon were beyond value for purposes of identification.

Identification Impossible

The time came when the process of digging graves for bodies of the newly deceased revealed the presence of remains already occupying the spot. The assumption of authority by the town did not secure the system and care which the case required. When burials ceased in the hill cemetery the location of hundreds of bodies could not be determined. The City Cemetery (now Greenwood) was laid out in 1835.

A disaster on the Licking in June, 1800, which resulted in the drowning of a man, a woman, a young girl and a child, when a canoe upset while being propelled upstream opposite the site of the infirmary, moved John McIntire to provide the little settlement with a cemetery. On learning that the child's body had been found and buried near Duncan Falls and that the other bodies had been found and laid away where the B. & O. bridge crosses the stream near what is now the head of Lee Street, he set apart a piece of ground on North Sixth Street, which afterward became the site of the Zanesville gas works. Sutor says of this:

Sixth Street Graveyard

SIXTH STREET GRAVEYARD "A number of bodies were buried there, the last being that of James Filley, in 1806. When the hill burying ground, at the head of Main Street, was set apart, bodies were removed to the new ground, but many were not disturbed and when the gas plant was erected several skeletons were exhumed, but the bones were carefully collected, placed in a box and decently reinterred in the yard. Not many years ago the skeleton of a woman was found in the yard, only two feet below the surface. The hair was bright red, plaited and well preserved and.«the remains were respectfully buried where found." :

It may surprise the reader to learn that the hill ground was the scene of a grave robbery as early as 1811. One February night in that year, as Elijah Ross and a companion were concluding a coon hunt, they passed over the hill near the graveyard. On reaching home Ross remembered hearing a suspicious sound as the spot was passed. The recollection returned when he awoke and it moved him to investigate. Early in the morning he started towards the hill with gun and dogs, for the midnight sound had seemed to come from an animal.

Tracks Robbers To Tavern

On reaching the hill he found an open grave, a broken coffin and a vanished body. Two inches of snow lay on the ground and Ross was able to trace the course taken by the robbers. He saw that they had dragged the body down the long hill to the corner of Seventh and South streets and had handled it so roughly in climbing a fence there as to leave strands of hair on the rails.

At this point the body had.been dumped into a wheelbarrow, the tracks of which Ross followed to Diamond Alley and thence to the cellar door of the tavern located at the Southwest corner of Main and Third streets. Here a crowd of indignant citizens gathered. The door was forced open and there in the cellar, behind some logs, lay the remains of Thomas Payne. |

Anger ran high. Excited men proposed to tear the tavern down. ran up with a flaming torch. But cooler heads stopped the proceedings while the offenders got out of reach. The body was taken away and prepared for reinterment. Sutor says of this:

"Eight pallbearers, wearing white gloves, white sashes over the shoulders and white scarfs upon their hats, bore the bier, with the remains covered with a white sheet; business was generally suspended and the entire town was in attendance; the Legislature was in session at the time, but its deliberations were interrupted until the incident closed with the reinterment of the body."

Had To Hurry

It was found that the guilty ones were two Zanesville men and a man from Wheeling who were studying medicine under Dr. Hamm. When Ross and his companion passed near them on the night of the robbery they had just removed the body from the coffin. The sounds made by the hunters alarmed them. Hastily they dragged the cadaver by the ankles down the hill.

here until his death occurred in February, 1811. His death was sudden and his body found a resting place in the public burying ground on the hill.

Another In Putnam

In Putnam, Dr. Increase Mathews donated land for a cemetery at the East end of Coopermill Road and the remains of his wife were laid away therein in 1802. That spot now is part of Woodlawn cemetery. Levi Whipple later donated burial grounds located on what is now Moxahala Avenue and a great many burials were made there.

This latter ground also was the scene of grave robbing. It occurred during the winter of 1823-1824, at which time Dr. Calvin Conant, the Putnam physician, had four medical students. A discovery made one morning by Dr. Conant's colored hostler, Jake, led to knowledge of the robbery.

As Jake entered the Conant haymow that morning he discovered a small human foot and he broke away with a yell that brought one of the students upon the scene with threats, appeals and warnings calculated to awaken superstitious fears. These kept Jake quiet until night, when he was persuaded to go to bed. The students worked while the hostler slept. During the night the body was secreted. Strange to say, it never was recovered.

The secret occupied too much of Jake's agitated mind to be kept. When he Jet it out there was great excitement, for the open grave in the Moxahala Avenue cemetery gave striking evidence of the story's truth. Warrants were issued for the arrest of the students. Only the tact of influential residents held off threatened violence.

Had Broken No Statute

Doctor Conant took oath before the magistrate that the robbery was without his knowledge. To give the hotheads time to cool off, action was delayed. Meantime, the accused were in hiding, having been admitted to bail. When the hearing began in the stone academy, scarcely a fourth of the assembled crowd found space within.

The climax came with the discovery that grave robbing was not against the law. Thus tied up, the magistrate could only temporize. To release the students would be to place them at the mercy of the mob, so he bound them over on the charge of stealing grave clothes. The case was at last dropped by the prosecutor, after several postponements.

The imminent danger of violence on that day of discovery lay in the fact that the students had laid desecrating hands upon the body of a young woman, a Miss Arnold. This well known and highly esteemed resident had died as the result of an acute illness and her remains had been deposited in the Moxahala Avenue burial ground.

There was a Quaker burial ground as early as 1810, when John Dillon donated an acre of land near the mouth of Timber run. It was five years before burials were made therein. In 1815 three Dillon's furnace laborers died of the "cold plague" and the Quaker cemetery received their bodies. The spot has long lain in a state of deplorable decay.

The Moxahala Avenue burial ground was a fair way some years ago to follow the Quaker lot in losing all proper cemetery semblance, but it was taken hold of by veterans of Hazlett post and by their labor and taste turned into a sightly breathing spot.

Cannon Startled Inhabitants And Drew Crowds To The River

STEAMED FROM MARIETTA TO ZANESVILLE AND RETURN IN THE YEAR 1824 - REACHED ZANESVILLE AT 10 O'CLOCK ON A DARK NIGHT- DECK CANNON STARTLED INHABITANTS AND DREW CROWDS TO THE RIVER e n EL GAVE ROYAL WELCOME TO CAPTAIN GREEN AND HIS

More than a hundred years have come and gone since Zanesville was given her first sight of a steamboat. It was the Rufus Putnam that challenged our citizens' astonished eyes, a boat built in Marietta, in 1822, for Capt. John Green, and used in the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati trade in 1823.

A Daring Venture

Captained by her owner the Putnam pulled away from the Marietta landing at 10 o'clock on the morning of January 9, 1824, carrying many invited passengers and bound for Zanesville. The Muskingum was in flood. There was not, of course, at that time a lock or a dam. The current was swift, especially at each of the falls.

As she passed the Marietta home of Gen. Rufus Putnam, founder of Marietta and one of the founders of our own Putnam, the old hero after whom the steamer had been named stood out on the bank and waved a godspeed.

No stops were made to take on or let off passengers, but there was an occasional halt to replenish the supply of wood for use as fuel. Progress against the swift current was slow, but the passengers of both sexes were enjoying the novel experience and one another's company.

The amazement of those who saw the Putnam from the shore was great. This was but natural. These settlers knew what a canoe was and some of them had seen the craft built by the whites as an improvement over the Indian canoe. This later craft has been described by Irven Travis, of McConnelsville, as having been made out of large trees "of the unmolested forest" * * their length being "from 75 to 90 feet, their diameter from 30 to 36 inches at the top," as having a shell from 1% to 2 inches thick (after removal of the tree's center) and capable of carrying ten to twelve tons of freight.

A Striking Object

But here was something very much larger and very different in other ways. The Putnam puffed and breathed. It emitted smoke and steam. It seemed to

As Zanesville was approached Captain Green decided that the Putnam should make a brilliant grand entry upon the scene, so the boat was brightly illuminated. His fair passengers helped to enhance the spectacle by putting on their red Scotch plaid cloaks (fashion's favorite wrap of the time) and standing out'on the deck under the blazing lights. As a final demonstration, came repeated discharges from the cannon. In this wise the Rufus Putnam pulled up at Putnam on the memorable night. One of the passengers well described the situation:

Amazed And Alarmed

"There was the town, wrapped in almost midnight darkness - no gas lamps at that day. It was 10 o'clock Saturday night, dark and rainy. Many had retired to rest when the report of the guns and the unusual noise of steam pipes were heard on the river. 'What is it?" was the cry from everyone.

"There had been some reports of hostile Indians," adds the old writer, facetiously ; "could it be possible they were coming upon them in that style? Others were fearful that enemies were coming to take the town. A few gentlemen who had seen steamers on the Ohio River appeared in sight and cried out, 'A steamboat,

But others cried, "British soldiers; look at their red coats." The Putnam looked like a ball of fire to those on shore. When she landed and the Putnamites found their Marietta friends on board, all was made plain and hospitable Putnam Village opened her arms. y

Carriages quickly were brought to transport the passengers to welcoming homes. Latch strings were out. Enthusiastic throngs lined the banks on the Eastern as well as on the Putnam shore of the river. l

Putnam may not have been called "Saints" Rest" as early as 1824, but the village bore the reputation of being extra conscientious in that day and some of her people "broke the Sabbath" by watching the Rufus P. and her passengers and crew long past the midnight hour.

Captain Green had named. Monday for the return trip, but the citizens would not have it so. They wanted to play the host to him and his. They wanted him to play the host also - to take them and some of their friends to Duncan Falls and back.

Nothing loath the genial captain took a boatload down and back Monday morning and another that afternoon. Parties were given in honor of his passengers, on the Zanesville side as well as in Putnam.

Even Oysters Were Served

"Fearing that this was not enough for our captain," says the passenger-historian, "the gentlemen must treat him to an oyster supper, after the parties were over, which was considered very complimentary, as oysters at that day were a very scarce article." But the captain "tore himself away" on Tuesday morning.

The last gun was fired, there being no bells on boats at that time. At 11 o'clock the Putnam backed out into the stream, turned around and headed for home. There was loud and long cheering and waving of handkerchiefs on deck and on shore. The banks "and even the bridge" were lined with citizens bent on saying good-by to the departing guests. At 6 P. M. the Putnam landed in Marietta.

Made Green Famous

It was a proud day for Captain Green. He had accomplished a feat regarded at the time as heroic and wonderful. It had been predicted that the Putnam would run her prow into a bank, would be ripped open by a snag, would be blown up by the steam. Not one of the critics was given a chance to say, "I told you so." Captain Green had won fame and had given his Marietta friends five days of rich adventure and unusual pleasure.

The Rufus Putnam was built at cost of about $12,000. She has been described as "a low pressure, side-wheel boat, 75 feet long and 18 feet wide. The cabin was built on the deck and the bunks were narrow beds fastened to the sides and concealed by curtains * * * the freight was carried in the hold."

Her predecessors on the Muskingum had greatly varied in size and form. First, of course, came Indian navigation. The savage made canoes of bark, also out of solid tree trunks and hollowed logs. They ranged in length from 15 to 30 feet and had an average depth of 2% feet.

Pirogues, Keel Boats

The white man followed with the pirogue - two or more canoes lashed together. They were employed to transport commodities. Some were twenty feet from stem to stern, others twice as long, with an average depth of 277 feet. They were propelled by poles, paddles and sails.

Later the keel boat was introduced, with a minimum length of perhaps forty feet. Sometimes they were 100 feet long. The whites put cargo boxes on these boats and made them with running boards on the sides, on which from three to five men, with poles, would walk from end to end to propel the boat.

The larger keel boats carried three masts, with gib booms and sails, for use when the wind was right. They were equal to caring for 100-ton cargoes. They made regular trips, carrying freights on the Muskingum, Ohio and other rivers.

The Broadhorn or New Orleans boat came next. It carried Zanesville stoneware, flour and other commodities all the way to New Orleans, where cargo and boat being sold, the owners walked back with the proceeds, a distance of 2,000 miles. A sort of cabin at the bow, also at the stern, housed the crew, consisting of eight or ten men. Propulsion came by the use of poles.

Irven Travis is authority for the statement that between the daté 'of the Rufus Putnam's trip to Zanesville and the opening of slackwater navigation a number of steamers repeated the feat, generally in the spring and fall.

Watchful' Eyes On National Road Life Enlarged As Traffic Grew

While the movement toward the building of the Ohio Canal was taking such shape that Zanesville was certain to derive especial benefits because of her position upon the principal river on the route, a Congressional movement toward the construction of a national highway had proceeded far enough to warrant the belief that Zanesville would be one of the towns through which that highway would pass.

Indeed long before the Ohio Legislature took the first steps toward canal construction the Congress of the United States was considering the feasibility of building a highway that would connect the Eastern seaboard with the Ohio country and it may be assumed that Zanesville's thinking men watched the movement from the beginning in the hope that Zanesville would be found on the line of the road when its Ohio course was laid out. To such observers the main question was, "Will this highway reach the Ohio at Wheeling or at some point farther North - Steubenville say?" The local hope, of course, centered always upon the choice of Wheeling. It was felt that from that point a great state road would in the main follow Zane's Trace to Zanesville.

An Important Step

As early as December 19, 1805, a committee of the United States Senate had reported consideration of five routes to the Ohio and had named respectively Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Richmond as prospective terminals and some point between Wheeling and Steubenville as the Ohio River terminal. The distance from Philadelphia was reported to be 317 miles; from Baltimore 218 miles; from Richmond 314 miles. It was recommended that construction begin at Cumberland, Maryland, and reported that the sum of nearly $13,000,000 was available for the undertaking. An act was passed empowering President Jefferson to appoint three commissioners to survey a road four rods wide, from Cumberland Westward, and to report plans to the President. The sum of $30,000 was appropriated for this purpose.

named by the President, and their report, submitted December 30, 1806, was offered to Congress January 31, 1807. The President stated that he had asked the authorities of states through which the road would pass to consent to the construction. Maryland and Virginia answered in the affirmative. Pennsylvania followed suit on April 9, 1807. rk

A Bone Of Contention

Settlers West of Cumberland in the sections to be affected, were impatient to have the route selected, but as much progress was made upon the preliminaries as could have been expected in the face of the difficulties encountered, among which were the contentions and importunities of rival communities. To pass upon claims and counter claims the commissioners "examined space comprehending upward of 2,000 square miles."

The chief difficulty was found in the attempt to fix upon the route between Brownsville, Pa., and the Ohio River, and in that connection Albert Gallatin, secretary of the United States treasury and owner of large tracts of land in Western Pennsylvania, was accused of seeking a decision which would add most to their value. Mr. Gallatin thereupon wrote to the superintendent to employ a surveyor to select the best road and report distances, topography, etc., to President Jefferson so that the latter could decide.

The commissioners' second report went to the President February 15, 1808, and was submitted to Congress February 19, with the statement that he had ap- proved of the route chosen as far as Brownsville. West of that point, he added, such decision would be made as would conserve the interests of the populous points of Ohio and the sections Westward to St. Louis.

Choice of the route between Brownsville and Washington, Pa., fell upon an old trail which the Indians had probably tramped out originally; and whether the Westward extension should reach the Ohio at Wheeling or at Steubenville was a question which aroused the people of those towns to a high state of contention. Wheeling won.

There is on record at least one Zanesville editorial hote of elation over the choice and doubtless its. sentiments were those of the whole city. From Wheeling to Zanesville Zane's Trace had been widened, improved and extensively used. It was logical to suppose that the National road would follow its route to Zanesville where connection would be made with the trace's Southwestward extention and beyond which at a distance but little more than 50 miles due Westward was the capital of the state. Zanesville could reasonably count upon the road coming its way and her people also felt that actual construction Westward from Wheeling was not a long way off.

Coaches To Wheeling

This for the reason that work actually had begun as early as 1811. A stretch of ten miles just West of Cumberland had been completed in September, 1812; the second section, eleven miles, early in 1815; the third section, thirteen miles, in 1817. During 1818 the sixty-three miles of road between Cumberland and Uniontown had been completed; and in that year mail coaches were making trips between Washington City and Wheeling. The road had cost $9,745 a mile to Uniontown and $13,000 a mile thence to Wheeling.

A town's growth depends upon faith in its future as well as upon its actual condition at a given period. The leaders of Zanesville's affairs could see that position on the National road would mean great things for the town. The prospect encouraged them to expand their business, to increase their products. They made ready for the new era.

Big Traffic On

Of course they were not ignorant of the vast increase of travel Westward through Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia which had been brought about by the existence of this new highway. Indeed, large sections of this stream were crossing the Ohio and passing through Zanesville. Taverns were springing up, settlements were being made, towns were being laid out. In 1822 one alone of Wheeling's commission houses had unloaded 1,081 National road wagons and paid out $90,000 in freights.

It is a significant fact that ground was broken for the Ohio extension of the road on exactly the same day that it was broken for the construction of the Ohio Canal, July 4, 1825. While high officials and private citizens were celebrating the latter great event at Licking Summit, another group were celebrating the beginning of the former enterprise at St. Clairsville, O., with ceremonies of impressive character, one of the speakers being W. B. Hubbard, a Zanesville man.

National Aspects

Thus began in Ohio an enterprise destined not merely to build up a great state but also to weld together the Eastern and Western sections of the republic, to avert forever a danger that had threatened - the absorption of sections of the Mississippi basin by England, France or Spain - a basin containing 4,000,000 square miles of territory unsurpassed in those qualities of soil, climate and minerals upon which empires are builded.

Nearly 100 years have passed since Zanesville began to witness the development of traffic upon this great national highway. As in the case of Zane's Trace, the town profited quickly and enormously by the opening of the road. Its position at the Northern end of the road to Maysville made it a junction point of mark and value. The products of Muskingum's fields fed hundreds of travelers and

Other Vital Gains

Zanesville merchants sold goods to these hundreds; her tavernkeepers took heavy tolls for their entertainment; her coachmakers manufactured vehicles for the stage companies. In many other forms ,material profit came to ae community through the highway's constantly growing activities. `

And there was great enrichment on non-material sides. Citizens came in contact with the men of mark who went back and forth over the road. They saw if they did not meet the Henry Clays of the day. They read the Eastern newspapers which came daily by the stage and were in constant touch with the great outside world. Local life became richer and more color ful. Mental bounds were enlarged.

After the traffic's modest beginning there was rapid growth until at times twenty coaches were to be seen rolling along sections of the road in a single line. Often a hotel would entertain as many as seventy transient guests over night. The coaches were arresting objects, with their profusely decorated bodies and rich, plush-lined interiors.

Bells jingled from where they hung in arches over the hames of the harness; the blowing of stagehorns announced the coach's arrival; with a speed often averaging ten miles an hour, there was movement enough on the stage's part to quicken the pulse of observers. And the freight traffic and its accompaniments were little less attractive.