Miami and Erie Canal

By Bill Oeters and Nancy Gulick

Travel through the history of Ohio's historic canals and follow its growth throughout the years told with hundreds of photographs.

In the 1800s, the United States was a nation obsessed with finding a form of transportation that was the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable; at the time, canals were the answer. Canals broke through vast, open countryside, forested woodlands, and rolling hills to expose the heart of the nation to development. They took passengers and goods off of dusty or muddy roads and delivered them to their destinations faster and cheaper than by any other means. From Toledo to Cincinnati, the Miami and Erie Canal provided western Ohio with that sorely needed waterway and became part of the 1,000 miles of Ohio canals contributing to the national network of canals. Today, with the help of government, corporations, and citizens, many parts of the Ohio canal system have been preserved or restored and can be visited and experienced. Watered sections of canal quietly reflect a bygone era and lead an explorer down the towpaths of history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439647134

Bill Oeters

Bill Oeters, assistant editor of Towpaths, the Canal Society of Ohio's quarterly journal, has traveled by foot on many miles of Ohio canals searching out remaining canal structures. Nancy Gulick worked canal boats on British canals, which fostered her interest in preserving and restoring the canals of Ohio. They are both trustees of the Canal Society of Ohio.

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Mueller.

INTRODUCTION

The idea of canals in the United States began almost as soon as the nation itself was conceived. George Washington and his compatriots considered it necessary to open up the interior of this new republic to settlement and the rapid development of its vital resources. Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, published a report in 1808 that was astounding in its scope, proposing roads, harbors, and canals, including the National Road, the Erie Canal, and canals leading into the Ohio Territory. Federal financing was not forthcoming for any of the proposed projects; instead, New York was forced to finance its Erie Canal by selling bonds, and Ohio faced the same dilemma.

By March 1, 1803, Congress passed an act creating the state of Ohio, and, by the very next month, the Ohio General Assembly met in Chillicothe to consider, among other items of business, the potentially profitable interior of the state and how to provide access for settlement and transfer of goods into and out of the state, as well as within its borders. It took until 1820 for the General Assembly to call again for similar surveys. Ohio entrepreneurs were urging the surveyors working on the Erie Canal to come to Ohio to survey and help construct canals to cross the state. Unknown and un-surveyed terrain notwithstanding, the General Assembly had already concluded that Ohio needed two canals: one to connect Cleveland to Portsmouth on the Ohio River and one to connect Cincinnati to Dayton. Later development of this second canal would extend it to Toledo on Lake Erie, thus connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River at two points and traversing the entire interior of the state, north to south. These canals presented a continuous water route from any location along the canal to Lake Erie. From there, boats could enter the Erie Canal, which led to the Hudson River, and, thence, from New York seaports to Europe. It was a heady prospect indeed for the young state.

This plan languished for lack of funding until 1822, when a Canal Commission was formed consisting of Alfred Kelley, a wealthy Cleveland lawyer; Thomas Worthington, an ex-governor; Ethan Allen Brown, a US senator; Isaac Minor; Benjamin Tappan; Ebenezer Buckingham; and Jeremiah Morrow, who was later replaced by Micajah Williams when Morrow became governor. Somewhat later, the commission was expanded to include John Johnston of Piqua. A glowing report of this commission led to state funding of $6,000 to hire an engineer to determine canal routes in Ohio. Commissioner Kelley went on a head-hunting expedition to New York and wooed James Geddes away from the Erie Canal to come assess the five different canal routes proposed by the General Assembly. Geddes and his assistants spent several unprofitable months in the field. After filing his report Geddes quit his post, saying that Ohio was far too treacherous and pestilential for him. Luckily for Ohio’s canals, it fell to the untiring efforts of Commissioners Kelley and Williams to save the project. Samuel Forrer, who had worked with Geddes as an assistant engineer, wound up spending a 50-year career on the Ohio canals, acting as commissioner at different times on both canals. Samuel Forrer, his brother John Forrer, Bryon Kilbourn, William Price, and David Bates made up the engineering team, with Price and Bates coming directly from their work on the Erie Canal. Initially, Bates served as principal engineer.

On February 4, 1825, the Ohio General Assembly passed the Canal Act, authorizing the construction of a canal from Cleveland on Lake Erie south to the Ohio River, and a second canal, the Miami, from Cincinnati on the Ohio River north to Dayton, with planned extensions to Lake Erie at a later date. By originating each canal in a strategic city, the state could guarantee the start-up success of each canal, which would lead to votes of approval from the legislature and assure funding for continued canal construction. The law also gave the Board of Canal Commissioners the power of eminent domain for land required for canal rights-of-way, towpaths, and reservoirs, as well as the power to seize timber or stone required for construction. Due process was established through arbitration of fair market value offered for land or materials. With financing not forthcoming from the federal government, Ohio created a separate, three-man Board of Canal Fund Commissioners charged with obtaining loans, selling bonds, and managing canal funds. Due in some part to the proven financial success of the Erie Canal, Ohio found eager purchasers for bonds in New York and Europe. Construction on both Ohio canals could proceed immediately.

One

THE MIAMI CANAL

CINCINNATI TO DAYTON

On July 21, 1825, ground was broken south of Middletown, on the Daniel Doty farm, for the Miami Canal. Ohio governor Jeremiah Morrow was present, as well as New York’s governor, DeWitt Clinton. Costs were figured at $12,000 per mile, or an estimated total cost of $673,000. Months later, 1,000 laborers were hard at work on the canal, destined to reach Cincinnati and Dayton. Wages for common laborers began at $5 per month plus board, including a daily ration of whiskey. Blacksmiths earned $11 a month, carpenters earned $21, and a man with a team earned $40. The completed Miami Canal, fed by dams and feeders from the Mad and Miami Rivers, ran for 66 miles, with 24 locks and 10 aqueducts.

On November 28, 1827, two short years later, the first boats arrived in Middletown from Cincinnati to celebrate the opening of the first section of the Miami Canal. By January 1828, the first boats arrived from Cincinnati in Dayton on the completed Miami Canal. Although whiskey, flour, and pork were popular shipping items, wheat and corn were also staples of the shipping industry to Cincinnati. The residents of the interior could finally receive finished goods from Cincinnati, which had not previously been available locally. By 1830, the two fledgling canals on opposite sides of the state were bringing the state revenues of $100,000. The commercial promise of canal building was being fulfilled, as well as the development of the state itself.