The Raging Erie: Life and Labor Along the Erie Canal, by Mark S. Ferrara, 259 pages.
I think it would be safe to say that well read canal researcher or enthusiast will not learn anything new from The Raging Erie as most of the material used has been taken from other books on the canal. In fact, the extensive footnotes clearly show that the entire book has been built upon the works of others who researched, and authored books and papers before him. However, if your interest was not on the societal impacts of the canal and the era upon certain classes of people, you could have been easily skipped over much of the material that Mr. Ferrara presents in his book. The Raging Erie is divided into seven topic chapters along with an introduction and conclusion. Each chapter closely looks at the lives of a different class of people or the resulting societal movements that took place during the 1800s. He notes that he proposes “instead a journey through canal life from the perspective of the ordinary folks who experienced firsthand the dislocating and alienating social consequences, the extreme class and income inequality, that this waterway wrought.”
I greatly enjoyed the the first chapter, Decline and Fall of the Iroquoia, as it lays bare the struggles of the Native Americans as they tried to deal and live with the newly immigrated white Europeans. Most canal historians skip over the displacement of these Peoples and begin their narrative with the 1810 journey of DeWitt Clinton or the first shovel of turned earth at Rome in 1817. I had recently read Memory Wars by A. Lynn Smith and found myself wanting to learn more of the Native Peoples. A trip to the local library resulted in a pile of suggested readings that mostly were geared to the elementary school student. It is safe to say that I learned more from this book then I learned from my library raid.
After the first very useful chapter, the author details the lives of the poorer folks who helped to build and maintain the work-a-day world of the 1800s. Here, at least for me, the book falters. This is not a book about the canals. Instead, Ferrara uses the canal as a backdrop to loosely pull in various social movements. Many of the events had nothing to do with the canal aside from taking place about the same time. For instance, in chapter four he tells about Anne Royall, a woman who is considered to be the last person to be tried as a witch. Anne’s only interaction with the canal was to travel along it in a packet. She lived and was active in Washington DC., and, if you do an internet search for her, much of the same material presented by Ferrara is readily accessible. (I found out that she coined the term “redneck.”)
I have grown fond of Dr. Karen Grey’s term “zombie history” and I use it often. And here is another case of potential zombie history run amok. For instance, Ferrara quotes George Condon’s Stars In The Water often, and although it was the first book that I ever read about the canals, it is generally not considered to be the work of a great scholar. I pulled out my copy of “Stars” and see the Condon never used footnotes and most of his work is built upon the authorship of others within the limited scope of a two page bibliography. So much for deep research.
Anyone who has researched their family knows that it can be very difficult to find information and life details about their poorer ancestors. The poor working class were illiterate and didn’t have time to write diaries. That is why a book such as A Midwife’s Tale is so important in developing an understanding of what life was like in the late 1700s, or Life on a Canalboat, The Journals of Theodore D. Bartley, 1861-1889, which provides details into the life of an actual person on the canal. Another great study is Anthony Wallace’s Rockdale which gives insight to the life of mill workers in a small town in Pennsylvania. Although I mention Midwife due to its rarity, the other two works certainly fall within the scope of Ferrara’s study period and he never mentions either. What really surprised me is that I didn’t see any use of newspapers to tell the story of the poor. On the rare occasion where your ancestor might be mentioned in history is either for their birth, death, marriage or when they were arrested. These stories may not have fit into the larger scope of this book, but if you are seeking details about the life of the poor working class, the digital files of thousands of newspapers should be consulted.
As a quick overview of, or a introduction to, the social movements of the 1800s, The Raging Erie can fill that space. A reader who has never picked up a canal history will be well served by this book. And for others, it might better serve as a sort of annotated bibliography to help you find other books that deal with the subject. Each chapter stands on its own and doesn’t require you to read the entire book. So with a scan of the sources you will have a starter list of books and readings that you can pursue to hopefully find some original material.
The last chapter of the book, neatly titled “Conclusion, Transforming Life and Labor in America” nicely ties the book together and might cause you to reconsider some notions about life along the canals. We do tend to glorify the canal era, and I would guess that all of us have dreamed about having a time machine that would whisk us back to a towpath of the canal where we could see and hear the canal and the people in action. We seek sanitized versions of this when we visit parks that feature mule pulled canal boats. But I doubt many of us would like to live in those times and be a real canal driver walking 12 hours a day, find shelter in a 12 by 12 cabin, or have to unload thousands of pounds of cargo by hand. The canals, mills, factories, railroads, and so forth, were all miserable places to eke out a life. Years ago, PBS had a documentary series about a group of re-enactors living in Montana, and one man was losing weight so fast that his wife had the doctors come in to check him over. They said basically, “ma’am, this is what people looked like when they had simple diets and worked 16 hours a day!” Life was tough and few of us could hack it. And to help people cope with their existence, they sought meaning and understanding by way of religion and other social movements. And Ferrara neatly wraps that up with his conclusion.
So, for my conclusion, if you happen to volunteer at a canal park, or oversee docents, and want to help inform visitors about life in the 1800s, The Raging Erie can fill that void. But, if you are thinking about buying the book because you see the words “Erie Canal” in the title and you want to fill out your canal library, you will likely be disappointed.
Chain of Title: An Adventure To Uncover the 350-Year Legacy Of The Old Grist Mill, by Christopher Scott, 2024. 335 pages.
While a review of this book might seem to be a bit of a stretch for a canal newsletter, Chain Of Title is worthy of your time if you have ever looked at a house or building and wondered, “What is the history of that place?”
Christopher Scott purchased a decaying four-story grist mill that was built along the Pequea Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. After renovations that converted the mill into his home, he began the journey to uncover the history of the property and building. This began like many investigations do with folklore and “established” history. He notes that during construction, strangers would often walk into his home and share their knowledge and websites shared conflicting histories about the mill. Plus, the reconstruction itself gave some clues about the building, and a date stone over the main door gave its own history. How could a date stone be wrong?
Scott notes, “Luckily, I am an open-minded person who is willing to adjust my view in light of new facts. I was expecting to dispel some of the fodder provided by the online grist mill enthusiasts: after all, with contradicting stories there could only be one right answer, and the others would thus be disproven. I was, however, surprised by the extent to which everything I thought I knew would need to be reevaluated, and I needed to allow myself to let go of ideas that I had taken to be solid truth – even irrefutable facts.”
Dr. Karen Gray, the noted historian of the C&O, coined the term “zombie history.” She described these as historical “facts” that would not die, no matter how many times they were disproven and killed off. Typically, someone years, decades or centuries ago wrote what they thought or heard, and from there, that information is shared over and over as fact. People cite these sources since they are old and thus must be true, without doing their own investigation.
In Chain Of Title, Scott throws out all those facts, folklore, and opinions, and begins at the beginning with the Native Americans use of the land and who was living along the Pequea when the first European settlers showed up. He then moves onto how William Penn was given the land that would become Pennsylvania, and then works forward through history to the present. In each chapter he narrows down his focus as the land changes hands, parts are given or sold off, and in the end, he ends up looking at his current lot and building. Along the way he is able to confirm or disprove all those bits of zombie history.
It is difficult to make such a journey into a great page turner, but Scott is skilled enough to keep the reader interested. I always say that those who do family genealogy have an audience of one, themselves, as no one wants to hear about your ancestors family history. And, this is basically a genealogical look at an old mill that is now a home. However, the book can serve as a good text on how to conduct such an in-depth research for anyone who is wishing to go on such a mission for themselves.
You can find the book on Amazon.
PS. Combine this book with Mills on the Tsatsawassa by Philip Lord Jr., (1983) and you will be well set to begin your research.
Since 1972, the American Canal Society has printed a quarterly newsletter titled American Canals. With the exception of a few missed issues, the staff (volunteers) have been able to keep the publication on schedule with over 200 issues that cover news and history of all American canals and waterways.
Most issues are available as digital downloads on the Newsletter tab and a index is also available. We typically delay the uploads for a couple years just to add value to being a member. Members can receive issues by mail, as a digital file (and in color), or both.
Here is a bonus copy of the latest newsletter (summer 2024).
Pete Runge, The Magazine of Albemarie County History, V.57, 1999. Pete Runge, The Magazine of Albemarie County History, V.57, 1999. Pete Runge, The Magazine of Albemarie County History, V.57, 1999. Pete Runge, The Magazine of Albemarie County History, V.57, 1999.
AMERICAN MASON’S MARKS LOOKUP TABLE by Bill Trout
(This information was on the old ACS website and is presented here by request.)
It used to be said that the only mason’s marks in America were on the stones of George Washington’s Patowmack Canal locks at Great Falls, Virginia, and on the foundations of the Capitol in Washington DC. We know now that mason’s marks are all over the place, and that these marks are trying to tell us something.
A major stumbling block for those interested in mason’s marks is communicating with each other. Except for numbers and letters, these symbols do not have their own typewriter or computer keys, so to report them they must be drawn and transmitted in some way. This lookup table is an attempt to make communication and documentation easier, and to start a list of known marks in America.
The marks on the lookup table are grouped according to the number of lines (a curved line counts as one line). The 9th mark with 6 lines would be mark 6-9. One can search the present document to see, for example, where in America all of the 6-9 marks are located.
Mason’s marks are not always clear-cut because the stone can be rough, and the surface can erode. The light has to be right. Some are hidden under mortar. Sometimes the details of a mark are clear only when it has been found more than one place on a structure. We have found it best to make a rough drawing of each face of a structure, with a rectangle or space for each visible stone, and show the marks on these drawings. In this way one can tell if a new mark has been found, and marks can be compared. Usually, new marks are found at each visit to a site.
This lookup table is only the beginning. It will never be finished. If you find new marks, let us know so we can add them (and the reference or source) to the table and bibliography.
The next stage is to study these marks and compare those on a structure, and those on different structures along a canal or railroad, They are trying to tell us something about the stone masons and construction work. Theories abound. Bon appetit!
How to Observe Masons Marks, from “Masons Marks in Albemarle County,” by Pete Runge, The Magazine of Albemarle County History, V.57, 1999, p. 63.
“I have found that the best time to observe masons marks is in the late afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky, and casts a shadow into the recesses of the mark. I presume early morning works just as well, but I am not exactly a morning person, so I stick to the afternoons!
“If you are looking for them inside an arched culvert or aqueduct, a waterproof flashlight is usually helpful. No matter how shallow a creek or river is, there is always several feet of cold water inside the arch, since the current is funneled into a narrower-than-normal channel. Be sure you watch for sudden drop-offs while you are wading under the arch.
“It sometimes takes a few minutes to find the first mark or two, but once your eyes adjust to what you are looking for, they will suddenly start popping out all over the place. Try looking at different angles from the stone, as a mark invisible or indistinguishable from one angle, may be very clear from another.”
Canal in Blue Ridge Gorge (Trout 2001:73): 2-1, 2-2, 3-1, 3-7, 3-8, 4-1, 4-3, 4-6, 4-10, 4-13, 4-14, 4-27, 5-8, 5-10, 5-11, 5-12, 5-13, 5-27, 5-28, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-12, 7-3, 7-4, 7-5, 7-17, 8-2, 9-2, 11-1, M, C, H, HL, WHUF (?), DBL. More details are in “Masons’ marks in the Blue Ridge Gorge,” by Mike Starkey in the Summer 1994 VC&NS Tiller, pp. 24-31.
Piers of James River bridge at Bent Creek, 4-28, 5-18, 5-20, 5-22, 6-16, 7-2, 7-11. (Trout, unp.)
Hardware Aqueduct, JR&K Canal, VA (1838), from Minnie Lee McGehee in 1966 and from The Canal on the James, by T. Gibson Hobbs, Jr., Blackwell Press, Lynchburg VA 2009:137: P, F, X, V, BB, III, J, 2-1, 2-7, 3-11, 3-17, 4-2, 4-10, 4-30, 5-19.
Tidewater Connection Locks (1854), on stones removed for storage, 4-3, 4-17, 7-2, P, A, DW. These stones also had a “code” marked in red paint (covered by mortar) indicating N or S wall of lock, and course. See “Cracking an Engineer’s Code,” American Canals. **.
Beaver Creek Aqueduct, JR&K Canal, marks found by Tom Hahn in 1981: 2-1, 3-6, 4-18, 4-19, M, Z, S, D, III. (Hahn mason’s marks notebook, in Trout collection, includes English and French canal marks)
Warren Canal Culvert (Ballinger Creek) (Runge 1999): R, 6-25, 3-1, 3-16, II, B, AH, C.
Kent’s Branch Culvert, Columbia, 1830’s (Trout 2002:30): 3-1, 4-22, 5-29, 2, I, N, K, JC, J8.
VA Railroad Bridges:
South abutment of NS Bridge 425 over Jennings Creek, Arcadia, VA, has mason’s marks plus course number (A-F) and stone numbers. The North abutment has no marks. Did it have a different contractor? (Trout 2001:54)
Belt Line Bridge, Richmond, 1891 (Trout 1987:24): 2-1, 2-2, 3-1, 3-3, 3-5, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-8, 4-10, 4-11, 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7, 5-8, 5-9, 6-1, 7-1, 7-2, 7-15, 10-1, 1, 2, 8, D, F, I, K, L, S, T, V, III VE, JB, HA, MT, MM, ME. Shows locations of marks on each pier.
C&O RY Bridge, at Humpback Bridge (Trout 2001:27): 3-1, 3-6, 4-3, 4-26, 5-22, 7-13, 8-4.
Piers, Mouth of Looney’s Creek (Trout 2001:46): 4-5, A, L, M, N, T, II, III.
N S bridge at Arcadia (Trout 2001:54): courses A-F and stone #.
O&A RR James River, bridge, Daniel’s Island (Trout 2001:82): 2-2, 3-1, 3-6, 3-13, 4-2, 4-8, 4-28, 5-9, 5-23, 7-14, 8-5, C, D, H, L, R, P, T, U, V, X, II, JP, MI, IS, ISENE. Many stones have the height in inches. The abutment has 3U, N-5U+2-7, U43-2, 3U, D; the U’s are on the upriver side and the D’s on the downstream side. Some numbers indicate the course above the water table course (course sticking out).
N&W, (NS) bridge in New River Trail State Park VA (Trout 2003:35): 3-1, 1-3, 01; at Walker’s Creek VA (p.61), C7N5, C6N2 (course 7, stone 5, etc.); at Ripplemead VA (p.61), stone height in inches.
Richmond & Danville Staunton River bridge at Altavista (1876) (Trout Roanoke Atlas *:45): XVI [2-1], GH XVII, PA, [3-6] P, 18C, etc. Height of stones in inches plus a mark.
NS bridge over the Big Otter near Evington (Trout Roanoke Atlas p.48): A18, W, 16D, T, R. Height of stones in inches.
Franklin & Pittsylvania RR bridge over Pigg River near Toshes (Trout Roanoke Atlas p.135): [5-7] W + M, 6-20, B, F, 16, 14.
CSX at Charlottesville Woolen Mills (see map in Trout 2002:9A from Runge 1999): west abutment: 4, C, 4-10, P, 7-12, K, XX, XV, V, 6-24, 3-19; Central and East Pier: H, A, 1-1, 2-1, 3-12, 4-29, 4-3, 3-5, M, E, 8-2, 5-31; Middle Pier: ARUNDALE FEB. 27, 1901. West pier: 3-16, 3-1. Office Building, 4-10.
CSX at Franklin St., Charlottesville, 0.4 mile W of Woolen Mills (Runge 1999): H, XXX, W, B, 3-6, E, B+H, 1878, 7A.
NS bridge over North Fork Rivanna (abandoned route, river mile 4.3) (Runge 1999): Baylor Simpson, L, C.W.I.I., H, XX, F.
NS bridge over North Fork Rivanna (active route, river mile 5.7) (Runge 1999): IIIVX, XV!!!, +T.P.B, T8, 14-1, X-VIII, 18, P or 4-1, 18, R, C.W, XVI8(?), 8-8.
NS bridge over South Fork Rivanna (Runge 1999): 20, 18, 16, 14, 5-9, LO, XVI.
Abandoned 1850’s abutment of C&O RY bridge over Jefferson’s Mill Canal spillway channel, Rivanna mile 34.14, (Runge 1999): R.E.L.M. LES.
C&O RY west abutment over Rivanna, mile 35.65, below I-64 bridge (Runge 1999): “4+ FEB.11 L.E.G. 90.”
VA Road Bridges:
Free Bridge Piers (Rt.250 over the Rivanna in Charlottesville) (Runge 1999): 5-6, T, M, ANNO.
Williamsburg VA: When the foundations of the Governor’s Palace were excavated in 1994, of the 160 stones dug up, 113 had “mysterious mason’s marks on the underside.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 10, 1994). Dr. Thomas H. Taylor Jr., archaeological collections manager, was looking for more information about these marks, which may have been made when they were cut in England.
Lock 2, Patowmack Canal at Great Falls, VA. “Great Falls of the Potomac, Great Falls Park, Virginia,” flyer has 3-9, 5-8, 5-16, 5-30, 6-21, 7-7, 7-8, 8-1. See also Barto 1980.
Douglas, Paul H., and W.K. Jones, Sandstone, Canals and the Smithsonian, The Smithsonian Journal of History, Spring 1968, pp. 41-58. p.43 has photos of two marks on the Potomac Canal at Great Falls, VA, 4-13 and 8-1.
West Virginia:
C&O, bridge at Sandstone WV (Trout 2003:79): 2-1, 3-6, 4-1, 5-24, 5-25, 6-18, 6-20, 8-6, P, H; p.82, culvert at Meadow Creek WV, 2-5; p.89, Fayette Station bridge WV, 2-2, 3-14, 4-1, 5-9, 5-26, 7-12, A, L, R, [3-5] and [sic] F, F and F, T.D; p.107, Second Creek Tunnel WV (1855): 2-1, 2-4, 3-15, 5-8, B, L, E, R, T, LH, LM.
Salt Rock Bridge, Guyandotte River WV (Trout 1988:12): “H” in stone from 1898 abutment, under present bridge, cut by Curtis D. Harbour to indicate which stones he cut in 1898. One of the few marks where the maker is known.
The Canal society of Ohio Newsletter, January 1999, p.1, has a note on marks on Locks 21, 29, and 44 on the canal in and near the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, with Roman numerals. Includes a photo of mark 4-30. Readers are asked to send more examples to Brad Bond, 101 Hillside Way, Marietta, OH 45750, 614-374-6715, for a later article in the Newsletter.
Canada:
“Z” on Shubenacadie Canal, Nova Scotia, in Shubenacadie Canal Guide, Shubenacadie Canal Commission, 1989, p.24.
Toward a Bibliography of American Mason’s Marks
Virginia:
Runge, Pete, 1999, “Masons Marks in Albemarle County,” The Magazine of Albemarle County History, V.57, 1999, pp.56-63. Illustrations of many marks. Copies of V.57 are for sale on the Albemarle County Historical Society web site, www.albemarlehistory.org.
Trout, W.E. III, May 1979, “Mason’s marks on the Smaller Stone Archway under Reynolds’ Metals’ 3th Street Bridge,” Richmond, VA. Shows locations of marks. Page inserted in the ** Tiller. 2-1, 3-6, N, T.
Trout, W.E. III, James Moore III, and George D. Rawls, 1987, Falls of the James Atlas: Historic Canal and River Sites on the Falls of the James, Virginia Canals & Navigations Society, 1987, 1995.
Trout, W.E. III, 1988, The American Canal Guide Part 4: West Virginia, Kentucky and the Ohio River, American Canal Society, 1988. Online on www.americancanals.org.
Trout, W.E. III, 2001, The Upper James Atlas: Rediscovering River History in the Blue Ridge and Beyond, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society.
Trout, W.E. III, and Peter C. Runge, 2002, The Rivanna Scenic River Atlas: Historic Sites on the Rivanna Navigation, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, 1992, 2002.
Trout, W.E. III, 2003, The New River Atlas: Rediscovering the History of the New and Greenbrier Rivers, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, 2003.
Trout, W.E., III, in progress, The Roanoke/Staunton River Atlas, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, in press.
Trout, W.E. III, in progress, The Holston, Clinch and Powell’s Rivers Atlas, Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, in preparation 2010. page C-12, N&W bridge at Thompson’s Creek, BII, DIV, EV, A, PII, CIII (I, II, etc. is course of stone from bottom).
General:
Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, “Masons’ and Freemasons’ Marks” being Chapter XXIV of a history of masonry, 16 pages . Excellent study of mason’s marks and their history. Examples are shown, but none in America, but we had the same types. Online on http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/marks/freemasonsmarks.html. An edited version is in Chapter XLVIII of Mackey’s History of Freemasonry, by Robert I. Clegg, V.3, The Masonic History Company, NY, 1921.
Barto, Stephen, and Paul O. Weinbaum, Stone Marks in America and their Origin, 1790-1860, North Atlantic Region Curatorial Paper, National Park Service, November, 1980. Marks from Fort Wood (1844), now the base of the Statue of Liberty, has 2-1, 3-2, 3-6, 3-18, 4-2, 4-6, 5-9, 6-10. Fort Tompkins, NY has 2-3, 4-8, 5-10, 6-12, 6-20, MMD, 3-3, XIXX, I [4-24]; Lock 2, Potomac Canal at Great Falls VA has 3-17, 8-1, 2-2, 5-18; Richmond-Petersburg RR Bridge s XIX, 8-1, 6-14.
Barua, B.M., “Old Buddhist Shrines at Bodh-Gaya: Inscriptions,” Indian Historical Quarterly, March 1930, pp.1-31, online on http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-ENG/bar.htm.
Smith, J.A. Two dense pages of marks from Melrose Abbey and others in the UK, from an exhibition by J.A. Smith, are online at http://ads.ac.uk/catalog/adsdata/PSAS_2002. From the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Wallace, Jefferson, The Marks of the Members of Temple Chapter No. 32, Royal Arch Masons, Richmond, Virginia, V.1, 1892-1902, Richmond, 1922, pp.V-XII, shows many marks in Egypt, Syria, Europe, Britain, and India. These essentially include those found in America.
Other types of marks:
Eberlein, H.D. and R.W. Ramsdell, The Practical Book of Chinaware, Lippincott, 1925, 1948. Some of the simple marks are similar to mason’s marks: 2-1, 3-6, 4-8, 4-10, 4-24, 6-20.
A chart of 45 Hobo Signs and Symbols is available from www.railroadcatalog.com and railway museum shops. Some are similar to mason’s marks, such as 2-6, 3-1, 4-1, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5.
Jonathan Prown of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation found a mark in an early (perhaps pre-1800) cupboard in CW’s collection from Amherst County (Acc. # 1990-249) which is similar to a masons’ mark. The top of the mark is a diamond with a T in it; the bottom is a diamond with a horizontal bar and a dot; the diamonds are connected by a bar.
Emrich, Duncan, The Cowboy’s Own Brand Book, Dover, 1954. These brands have some components similar to mason’s marks (diamond, square) but are otherwise distinct.
Masonic Symbols in American Decorative Arts, Lexington, MA, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum of Our National Heritage, 1976. Articles by Barbara Franco, etc.
Mason’s Mark File, Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service, Technical Preservation Services, Washington DC.
Note- This article is about guide books authored by canal society volunteers which have been printed and distributed in fairly low numbers, which can make them difficult to find if you are not aware of them. “Formal” guides that have been authored, printed and even sold with professional help have not been included.
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One day when I was visiting the Canal Society of NYS Samuel Center in Port Byron, Park Director Dan Wiles was showing me their stacks of society guide books that have been published over the last five decades. He mentioned that as people have passed away, or began to clean and de-clutter, many old guide books were being returned. So it might be an excellent time to reintroduce the guide book to a newer generation as these guides can contain some wonderful information not found in other sources.
If you never have attended a society study tour, you might not be aware of the guides, as they were printed with a limited run and handed out during trip registration. Extra copies were often given away to the tour stop hosts as a thank you, and if there were more, they were sold locally at society events. In this way, these guides often had a publication run of less then 200 or even 100.
As my beginnings were with the CSNYS, I had naturally thought that the guide book was a staple of the society weekend tours. And it was, as at each registration, the participant would receive their name tag, registration materials and the tour guide book It was only when I began to attend tours hosted by other groups that I realized that guide book was not always a given.
So what is a society trip guide book and how does it differ from the typical guide book?
For decades, the biannual canal society field trip, or as Thomas Grasso liked to call them, the “study tour,” was a staple of what most of the state societies did. Each spring and fall, a weekend trip would be planned to make an “on the ground” study of a selected canal section. The trip would cover a selected section of canal with any where from five to nine stops, or whatever was reasonable for an eight hour day. The stops focused on what was present, what was safe, and what could accommodate a bus or a number of cars. Sometimes, the bus would quickly drop people off at a trail and then pick them up a mile or so down the line. As the bus rolled along, the trip host or chairperson would give an quick history and overview of the next stop knowing that most folks would scatter for photos when they unloaded at the stop.
If the hosting organization used them, the guide book could be used to give background and context to the trip. It might have have maps and photos that each person could closely look at instead of having the guide hold up or pass around images. Depending on the author, might might include basic facts such as; maps, canal profile, lock lift, construction and use dates, who was the engineer, and so on. The guides were focused on the sites that would be visited during the tour, and were not always a comprehensive history of the canal. In short, the guide could serve as a recap of the weekend tour.
As with most society publications put out by volunteers, the guides can be divided into two periods which might be titled; “before desktop publishing” and “after desktop publishing.” In short, the power of home computer and publishing software has greatly revolutionized the guide book. In the “before” times, the guide book was often a bunch of single-sided typed pages, and hand-drawn maps and diagrams, some poorly copied photos. These were mostly taken from the hosts knowledge, personal collection, and perhaps what could be found at local libraries and historical societies. They were copied at the nearest photocopier and then stapled together. Over the years these were somewhat improved and expanded by using a local print shop who could offer a bit better quality and bind the books with glue or use plastic spirals.
From the 1970 tour.
Once computers became a part of the household, the authors had a bit more flexibility, and a lot more power, to put out a more complete and professional quality guide book. Images became clearer with higher quality paper, two-sided pages became standard, and later the use of color was introduced. With the internet and resources such as digital newspapers and so on, the author could conduct a lot of research from their home and thus enrich the amount of information included. Given all this, all guide books tend to reflect their authors and their enthusiasm and knowledge of the study area. It can take many hours of study, writing, editing, checking and rechecking, to craft a decent guidebook, and many trip hosts didn’t have the time, or desire, to do the work. All the guides are in the 8.5 x 11 inch format. As most of these societies have hosted trips for more then 50 years, many sites have been visited and revisited. It can be helpful to review all the tour guides to see how sites have changed over the years and what new research has been conducted.
It might be helpful to note that many trips were co-sponsored with neighboring societies, so if you can’t find a guide in the state you are researching, check the state next door to see if they printed a guide.
With all this in mind, I pulled out the many guide books that I have in the ACS archives. Here is a summary of what I found.
Canal Society of New York State – The first guide was printed in 1961 for the tour of the Cayuga and Seneca Canal. The early guides are mostly a road log of stops and hand drawn maps that can be very detailed. Beginning in 1980 the guides featured a geology overview by Thomas Grasso, and the amount of content about doubles with 25 to 30 pages. In 1987 the society printed the first 50 page guide, and in 1990 the guide topped the 100 page mark. The first guide to feature color was with the 2009 Erie Canal Aqueducts tour.
The society also published guides for their out of state trips to the Morris Canal in 2002, the Rideau Canal in 2003, the Portage Railroad in 2006 and the C&O in 2014. All the guidebooks have been scanned but none are available as digital downloads. The society has a fairly complete collection of paper copies available for purchase. A listing of their trips can be found here.
Canal Society of Indiana – The society has been hosting study tours since 1982, however, the first published guide was in 1998 with the tour of the Wabash and Erie. Even then, not every trip has a guide. The guides have benefited greatly by having Carolyn Schmidt as the sole editor, and the results are a very uniform style and appearance from trip to trip. These guides are simply fantastic resources and should not be overlooked as they are very comprehensive in what information they contain.
The society has also hosted or co-hosted trips into Ohio eleven times and each of these has a guide. The guides are available online as digital downloads on the website with quite a nice organization by year, county, and canal.
Canal Society of Ohio – I could only find a few copies of guidebooks from the CSO in the American Canal Society archives. So I reached out to Michael Morthorst, CSO president, to see how often the society printed guidebooks for the study tours. He reports that the CSO did print guidebooks for their trips and his own collection dates back to 1988.
In the guides that I have I see the typical variation of quality and content. For example, the 2019 Spring Tour (Circleville to Chillicothe) is quite detailed with 108 pages that include history, maps, and photos. The guide was printed in cooperation with the Chillicothe Restoration Foundation and the quality of the guide certainly reflects that partnership. The other guides in the ACS collection follow the typical format of; introduction, tour stops, maps and references. These have plastic covers, wire or plastic spiral bindings, and average 15 to 30 pages.
Michael notes that there is no central repository for the back issues, however, the CSO website states that reprints of some guides are available by request.
Pennsylvania Canal Society – The PCS and the CSNYS share founding members and thus share some guide book history. Early examples of the guides include a list of stops and some helpful “explainer” drawings/maps. All the examples I have are in the typical 8.5 x 11 inch format. I have not found a comprehensive listing of trips or guides available, although I would expect that the National Canal Museum in Easton has most copies.
Other canal groups and societies have tackled the question of a guide book in the more traditional manner by publishing a comprehensive guide of the entire canal. These guides are usually printed in greater numbers and can be sold at book stores and museums, thus they receive a bit more attention, although you are unlikely to find then on Amazon. But they can still reflect the local knowledge of the author and in that way be very useful to the researcher.
The Virginia Canals and Navigations Society has published 21 “atlases.” These are in a 8.5 x 14 inch format that allow for a very nice presentation of the maps, which are the main feature of the guide. Most of the information is presented as by using topographical maps, overlaid with text blocks and arrows pointing to numerous sites.
The information found between the map pages contains articles on history, people, boats, geology, suggested highway markers, historic articles and recollections and a lot more. These guides were written mostly by Dr. William Trout and include wisdom from his lifetime of study.
The Middlesex Canal Association has a very good canal guide authored by Burt VerPlank. The guide uses a 8.5 x 5 inch format and takes the reader along a tour of the 30 miles of canal from south to north. Large fold out maps make this guide very easy to read and understand as you seek sites hidden in the urban environment of the Middlesex.
In conclusion, these small production study tour guide books can be a rich source of information that might not be found elsewhere, and most come with a decent list of references that could also be useful in directing further research. However, finding them, or simply finding a listing of them, can be a challenge. Be sure to seek them out by contacting the state canal society, local historical societies, libraries and archives.
Also note that the authors of the guide books typically would publish more in depth articles in the society’s newsletter. Be sure to check those as well.
The ‘doings’ of the Lessees, those 21 or 23 men who “administered” to the canals from June of 1861 into December of 1878 has always been a bit nebulous. And just where was the demarcation line between the duties of the State Board of Public Works and the Lessees? They both had Board Members and they both had Resident Engineers. These next two columns on the Saga at Sandyville will do nothing to clear things up. You will see, perhaps, that even those ‘on the scene’ were absolutely confused.
In the meantime, now that Spring is here, it is time to get out along the canal routes and find those artifacts and structures that you always felt, “the next time I get out in the field I’ll find it”. Lock 29 on the western division of the S. & B., is featured in the next two columns. That site I’ve found, and lost and found, and, . . .but you get the idea.
SAGA AT SANDYVILLE
James Kelly of Cuyahoga County, had been a prolific contractor on the Sandy & Beaver Canal on all three of its divisions. Then, after the collapse of the Cold Run Reservoir embankment in early 1852, he was hired by the canal company for the unenviable job of “trouble-shooter,” to pay off the ever increasing number of creditors with the ever decreasing amount of incoming funds.
By mid-1853, it had become obvious that no miracle concerning the Sandy & Beaver Canal Company was forthcoming. All the surplus real-estate with any value had already been sold. All that remained was the canal right-away itself and a few unencumbered water rights. Kelly had done what he could by spreading the smaller and smaller amounts of cash that canal tolls brought in from time to time to squelch the screams of the more voracious creditors.
Kelly had probably taken on, and completed, more contracts in building the canal than anyone else. More than half of his payments had been in “company bonds.” Kelly, in his current position was well aware that the canal company was going under and decided that if he wanted anything from the collapse he had better get it quickly.
Therefore, in early 1853, James Kelly initiated a law suit against the Sandy & Beaver Canal Company for his back wages. An avalanche of claims followed and the Sandy & Beaver Canal Company declared bankruptcy on June 28, 1853. On March 6, 1854, at a master commissioner’s sale in New Lisbon, that portion of the Sandy & Beaver Canal within the State of Ohio was divided into 82 Parcels and auctioned off.
As payment for his suit against the company, Kelly asked for, and was awarded, parcels 80, 81 and 82 of the Sandy & Beaver Canal. This line ran from two rods above lock 29 in Sandyville to the junction with the Ohio & Erie Canal in Bolivar, which was approximately six miles in lenght. The deed for this land and water-rights was transferred to Kelly on March 7, 1856.
Sandyville had prospered during its brief encounter with the active Sandy & Beaver Canal. The grist mill at the southern edge of town powered by the canal was a receiver and shipper on the canal, as were several coal mines that had sprung up in the area. A group of local citizens set about to get their link to the outside world reattached. A man by the name of William Nelson appears to have been the spokesman for the group. Shortly after Kelly had received his deed, or perhaps even before, Nelson had contacted the State’s Board of Public Works to ascertain if they had any interest in obtaining that six miles of the S & B as a “feeder” to the Ohio Canal. Their only stipulation was that the State maintain the waterway so it could carry traffic into and out of Sandyville. Kelly sold his S. & B. canal lands and water-rights to the group from Sandyville for $5,000 on August 2, 1856.
The 1912 Topo map. The Ohio and Erie can be seen running through Bolivar.
The Board of Public Works had the waterway examined and surveyed. They reported that the wooden aqueduct across the Tuscarawas River leading to the junction with the Ohio Canal at Bolivar, and the lock at the head of the long slackwater pool below Sandyville, were both in poor condition. In addition, the canal banks had been cut in several places by local residents wishing to regain access to their lands cut off by the canal. After some deliberation, the Board agreed to take over the canal if the banks were first repaired. On December 29, 1856, for the sum of $1.00, the western-most six miles of the Sandy & Beaver Canal became a feeder to and part of the Ohio & Erie Canal.
The final description of the portion of the S & B that became part of the State’s canal system, however, only included that portion from below Lock 29 in Sandyville to Bolivar. That was a small shortening of a bit over 2 rods, but it placed the Sandyville terminus approximately a quarter of a mile below the warehouses in the village. Either that discrepancy went unnoticed or the actual foreshortening didn’t seem that important at the time.
There was some business on that portion of the canal after the turnover. The Public Works report for 1859 stated that up until August of that year the Sandy & Beaver feeder had carried 33,000 bushels of wheat, 41,000 feet of lumber, and 3,213 tons of coal out of the village and 278 barrels of salt, lime and fish and 91,400 feet of lumber into it. The shortened boating season was the result of a collapse of a portion of the wooden aqueduct at Bolivar. A statement from a boatman’s diary in 1863 indicates that at least one trip was made into Sandyville that year.
So Sandyville was connected to the outside world via the Sandy & Beaver Feeder. BUT, in 1868 the following resolution was offered in the Ohio State Congress, . . . . .
“H.R. No. 111: Whereas the citizens of Sandyville and vicinity petitioned the Ohio Legislature authorizing the State of Ohio to adopt, as part of the public works, that portion of the Sandy & Beaver Canal which lies between Bolivar and Sandyville as a navigable feeder to the Ohio Canal; and whereas an Act was passed the 9th. Of April, 1856, adopting it on condition that the owners of said canal should put that part of the canal in good repair, and whereas, in pursuance of the inducement held out by such Legislative Act, and the construction put on it by the people of Sandyville and vicinity, they, for the purpose of having communication with the Ohio Canal, expended $7,000 in buying the right of way, paying (wages?) and putting said feeder in good repair; and whereas, afterwards the Board of Public Works, in their resolution of acceptance, only accepted that portion of the canal between Bolivar and the lock at the head of the slackwater pool, and so construed the law so as not to include the said lock and, whereas, by reason of such constriction the work is entirely valueless to the people of Sandyville and vicinity, as they have no connection with the Ohio Canal and derive no benefit from the expenditure of said money, therefore, “Resolved” – That the committee on Public Works be and is hereby Instructed to inquire into the justice and validity of said claim, and report to the House by Bill or otherwise”.
Such a Bill was rendered by the House during the 1869/70 Session to repair Sandyville Lock just above the Sandy & Beaver feeder and make it passable for canal boats. The Bill also authorized an amount of ‘up to’ $3,000 for the repair of the lock.
The group of Sandyville citizens that had bought that canal section from Kelly and handed it over to the State 14 years before, legally, still owned that section containing the lock that the State had not accepted. The canal above the lock belonged to owners of the Sandyille grist mill. They should have been a part of the current group agitating to repair the lock. Subsequent events, however, proved that wasn’t true. So what came next is an extremely convoluted, though interesting, story – and the subject of a future column.
i Maretta College, Special Collection, transcribed by George S. Hackett, December 05, 2003.
I am a family genealogist, and recently I was happy to inform my wife that Alfred Noble, the man who oversaw the construction of the Weitzel lock at Sault Ste. Marie, and was on the board that recommenced the use of locks on the Panama Canal (instead of digging a sea-level canal), was the nephew of the wife of her second great-grandfather. You can imagine her excitement when she said, “Who and who?”
This revelation came about as a happy accident due to my interest in creating family trees of the people who are my research topics. I like to use timelines when researching a topic or a person, and in the last few years, I have begun to construct simple genealogies for my main subject. Using my Ancestry.com subscription, I can create as many family trees as I want. As the family tree is developed and more info is added to a person’s profile, a very usable timeline is created, and then Ancestry suggests possible hints about records that can help add to the life story of my subject. In addition to all this, I can then upload and make available records and facts that might be usable to other genealogists.
So, over the years I have created a few canal engineer family trees and here are a few examples. These are in no way extensive, but hopefully show what else can be found by taking a deeper dive into the family tree.
The Gill family. If I say Gill, most will think of Edward Hall Gill, who worked on many canals including the Sandy and Beaver, Schuylkill, and James River and Kanawha. Edward was the son of Valentine Gill. Valentine had moved the family from Ireland to Nova Scotia in 1814 to work as a surveyor on the Shubenacadie Canal. While there, he wrote this letter to President Thomas Jefferson that can be found on the Library of Congress website;
“Sir, The eminence of your character, your philosophic and scientific genius and your ability to promote and reward merit, has prompted me to seek at Monticello, the retreat of its bountiful donor, that patronage, for want of which oft times fair science droops, and ability remains unnoticed and unrewarded; “And many’s the flower that’s doom’d to bloom unseen, And waste its fragrance on the desert air.” Your universal knowledge and love of science will plead the excuse for the intrusion of an adventurer, an exile of Erin, whose hopes there once flattering, is now without pain to be remembered no more, I have been regularly bred to the Engineer department, Surveying in its fullest extent, leveling and conducting Canals &c. My drawings of Maps Plans &c, will be found not inferior.
I was brought in here while on my way to your inviting shores, where I have been employed but not to the extent of my wishes, the first desire of my heart, is to become a resident of your land of liberty! as a friend to science and humanity, say can I hope for employment there; I have a small family companions of my adventurous fate, prudence forbids my leaving this without a Knowledge of where I should take them; with diffidence I humbly solicit this mark of your condescension, which should I be so fortunate to attain, my gratitude shall ever remain unabated, Your general knowledge of the country, and intimacy with its conductors might point out employment for me, at some of its public works, or your extensive domain would perhaps afford a field sufficient to found my introduction.
I have the Honor to be Sir, with every mark of Respect & esteem your most Obedient Honorable Servant &c,” (signed) Valentine Gill
There is no record if that letter resulted in any job prospects, but we do know that the family moved to New York in 1817 so Valentine could help survey the Erie Canal. Valentine is noted in canal history for his advocacy of the southern canal route that would have had a summit 90 feet higher then Lake Erie. (He lost and the canal took the northern route.) There is a mention of two children of a Valentine Gill who died when they fell into a cistern when the family lived in the Cooperstown area. He later moved to Rochester, NY, where he drafted a map that he said was compiled from “correct surveys.”
As noted, the well-known Edward Hall Gill was a noted engineer for many canals, apparently working on two canals at the same time. In 1980, the Pennsylvania Canal Society published an excellent bio of Edward Gill in their Canal Currents newsletter. Edward never had children, so few people actively research his life beyond his work.
A brother of Edward, Washington Gill, also went into the surveying and engineering trade. He often found work with his brother and then later as the first civil engineer of Richmond, Virginia. He later moved to St. Charles, Missouri, where he superintended the construction of the first bridge over the river at that place. Interestingly, it is said that Washington Roebling was named after Washington Gill.
The Whitford/Noble family- Anyone who has read any history on the Erie Canal has likely read a bit about Noble Whitford. Nobel wrote the two-volume 1905 state report that has become the “bible” of canal research. He later followed up with a 1922 history of the Barge Canal.
A young Noble Whiteford.
An interesting tidbit about Noble is that in one of his later in life interviews, he related how he and his sister narrowly escaped death in 1874 when the floor of the Central Baptist Church of Syracuse gave way during a strawberry festival that the two were attending. Many were killed and over 200 were injured.
Noble was the son of David Earl Whitford and Sarah Noble. David was also an engineer on New York’s canals. It was reported that David began his employment in 1853 as a “tape-man” in the Syracuse weighlock. David oversaw many projects during the enlargement of the Erie. He died in 1913, but we can say that he was able to witness all three canal eras of New York.
My interest was tweaked when I was rereading “The Path Between The Seas,” and was reminded of the American civil engineer Alfred Noble (not Alfred Nobel for who the Nobel Prize is named.) Of course this raised the question as to any possible connections between Alfred Noble and Noble Whitford, since the mother’s maiden name is often used for her children. Looking back over the generations, I found that both families came from Westfield, Massachusetts. From there it was simply a matter of how many generations back I would find the common ancestor. It turns out that Alfred Noble and David Whitford were of the same generation, although the grandfather they both share was some six generations removed!
However, in the research I saw that Alfred was from Livonia, Michigan. And, in one of his obituaries, I saw a mention of his close friend, Judge Edgar Durfee. This was indeed odd as I had researched Judge Durfee after my mother-in-law had asked me about her memories of a judge in her family from Michigan. As it turns out, Judge Durfee and Alfred Noble were first cousins, and as a result, my wife is a closer relation to Alfred than Noble Whitford was!
The Watt family- David A. Watt was one of the lead engineers on the New York State Barge Canal, and the designer of the Mohawk dams. But he found work on many river canalization projects around the country in the late 1800s. These include the Fox, Green, Big Sandy, Kentucky, and other rivers. He also co-authored “The Improvement of Rivers,” with Benjamin Franklin (B.F.) Thomas. He also oversaw the construction of the coffer dams around the battleship Maine in 1911 when the ship was being recovered from Havana harbor. David was born and trained in England and came to America with his family as one of the early settlers in St. Petersburg, Florida. His brother, John Marshall Watt, was also a civil engineer and worked on the Panama Canal. Like many of these engineers, David never had children.
In spite of being one of the later engineers, I have only found one photo of David in the Barge Canal Bulletin which is a bit of a puzzle as David was certainly a self promoter. However, he did leave his papers to the Florida Historical Society, and his accounts of camping and boating along the Gulf Coast were used for an article in 1980 by Kay Tapley. David and his wife Josephine Abercrombie left their home to the city and it is now Abercrombie Park in St. Petersburg.
Benjamin Franklin Thomas – Benjamin, or as he was always known, B.F., was the co-author of “The Improvement of Rivers,” with David Watt. Benjamin using “B.F.” might be the reason that David used D.A. as his name. Benjamin was 12 years older then David and likely a mentor. Both men worked in the Army Corps and were assigned to the work along the Big Sandy River in Kentucky. B.F. was the principal engineer for the dam and lock at Louisa, which was the first needle dam to be built in the states. Benjamin would remain as the engineer on the Big Sandy for years, unlike his protēgē who would travel extensively in his work. Benjamin was born in May 1853 in Ironton, Ohio, and died in Catlettsburg, Kentucky in 1923.
Both Benjamin and David were active promoters of the movable dam and many of the Chanoine wicket type dams that were built along the Ohio and other rivers was due to their influence.
The Hutchinson family- Holmes Hutchinson’s name is so entwined with the history of New York’s canals that he almost doesn’t need an introduction. His 1834 maps of the Erie are still used today to locate canal structures all across the state. He began work on the Erie in 1819, and he spent a majority of his life working on canals across the state. But, as with many of the engineers of the period, they went where the work was. In 1825, Holmes was employed as the Chief Engineer of the Connecticut River Company, and later he became involved with the construction of railroads to the point where he was named as president of the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad in 1851. He visited the Morris Canal in 1834 to study the inclined planes likely to study their possible use on the Black River Canal. His father, Amaziah, was a surveyor and helped to lay out many villages in the central New York area. In 1788, Amaziah plotted Owego, NY, and later moved to Union and then to Ithaca. He set up a ferry service across Cayuga Lake in 1802 near Genoa, which is where Holmes was born, before moving west to Dublin, Ohio.
Holmes lived in Utica and had a number of children, one of whom was Charles Webster Hutchinson. In 1875, Charles was elected mayor of Utica and then in 1876, became a founder of the Oneida County Historical Society.
The Schillner family- And, like Holmes Hutchinson and his maps, George Schillner is associated with his 1896 maps of the Erie Canal. But unlike the other folks I have researched, he was more a surveyor and draftsman, rather then being an engineer. So his time was mostly spent in the employ of the state working on various surveys and mapping projects. The Schillner family was part of the large German population who settled in the Utica and Rome regions of New York. Some of the family found early employment as boaters on the Erie before settling down for more permanent occupations in Utica. And, apparently the family had some musical abilities as they are often mentioned as part of the Rome Cornet Band and the Rome Musical Association.
A note for any genealogists out there. The trees I create are not up to the genealogical standards. These simple trees give me a sense of the lives lived and sometimes, a surprise such as a church collapse is found. I use what is available online and through Ancestry and Family Search. By creating the tree, I hope that others can use it as hints for their research, but as I caution, they need to be checking and holding to their own genealogical standards. They can be found on Ancestry.com.
The further west we go, the fewer dredges are seen as most of the digging took place in a dry environment with steam shovels and cable ways. Digging in the dry was better suited to the ladder dredge as the spoil could be used to build up banks or fill areas without all the wash water that was used in hydraulic dredges.
Contract 60 – The Mohawk Ladder Dredge
The ladder dredge Mohawk. Note the bank armoring in the foreground showing us that the channel was complete and that the dredge was either being used to deepen or fine tune the depth.The ladders all worked with a belt conveyor that was attached to a separate and smaller barge. Note the sheet piling that is being used to help form the bank. The stone in the fore ground was likely used as a bank core.The Mohawk in winter. Note the chain of buckets hanging from the boom.
Contract 60 – The Grapple Dredge
This un-named grapple used both a clam-shell bucket (top photo) and an orange-peel bucket (bottom). If you look close, you can see that the rig carried both buckets. This would have been used to conduct bank work and touch up areas along the canal.
Contract 63 – The Fairport All Electric Hydraulic Dredge
The Fairport was the only all electric dredge used during the construction of the Barge Canal.
The hull of the Fairport in the winter of 1911.Note that there is no smokestacks!The crew takes time to pose for this photo. What we don’t see is how it is connected to the shore power.The caption says that the boats are stalled, but not certain what this means. The second boat in the line is a steam-power canal boat and it looks to be pushing and towing the other two. Perhaps stalled due to low water?
Contract 66 – The Mineola Ladder Dredge
For some reason there are more images of the Mineola then of the Mohawk, but both operated in the same manner. A chain of buckets scooped up the spoil and then delivered that to the banks by way of floating belt conveyors.
We get a nice look at the floating monster that was the ladder dredge. These were used more in western gold mining operations then in canal construction, but they were used to construct the the Fox River navigation in Wisconsin. Here is a view of the backend. We get a look at the operating environment. Note the constructed channel ready to receive the spoils.
Editors Note- We haven’t heard from Terry in a bit, so here is one where he introduces us to the failed navigation on the Licking Summit Reservoir.
Hi Guys:
Several columns ago we told the tale of the wreck of the Black Diamond. The fact that that vessel was following a “channel” through the Licking Summit Reservoir (Buckeye Lake) led us to look up that channel on the Internet. With an old county history unearthed from that source and some information from the southern Ohio Canal Historian, Dave Meyer, we pieced together the fact of a (for me) previously unknown canal. I hope this one will pique your interest.
THORNPORT and NAVIGATION ON THE LICKING SUMMIT RESERVOIR
This 1909 topo map shows both Thornport and Thornville at the end of Buckeye Lake. The Ohio and Erie Canal can be seen as a dashed blue line in the upper left corner passing through Hebron.
As soon as the Ohio Canal was completed through the state from Cleveland to West Portsmouth, residents of those towns, “just off the line” began searching for ways to get “into the action”. When the Licking Summit Reservoir was enlarged in 1839-40, the higher waters came to just over a mile from the small Perry County town of Thornville.
Efforts were immediately initiated to form a new town along the Reservoir’s edge and to devise a way to get canal boats from the Ohio Canal’s towpath that passed through the center of the enlarged reservoir to it’s southeastern edge, close to Thornville
When the initial reservoir had been constructed in the late 1820s, its waters had been impounded without clearing the walnut forests and brush before the water was let in. Walnut trees are slow to decay, so their carcasses and stumps were still a danger to any navigation of the reservoir itself. Over the years a number of Legislative Acts had been passed to clear the reservoir and make it passable for craft. Also, at some date prior to March of 1839 the Ohio State Legislature had authorized a sum of $6,000 to complete these various tasks. And, again, prior to March 1839, the Perry Improvement Company had been organized and given the task of improving navigation within the Licking Summit Reservoir.
Then, on March 16, 1839, an Act by the Ohio State Legislature changed the name of the Perry Improvement Company to that of the Licking Summit Reservoir Navigation Company and authorized them to receive the already authorized $6,000 to ‘improve’ navigation on the Licking Summit Reservoir, just as soon as officers and directors of the company had been appointed and at least $3,000 of stock was sold.
Probably in the same time frame, a town was initiated near the water’s edge of the reservoir a mile or so north-west of Thornville and was given the appellation of Thornport.i A large hotel and warehouse were speedily constructed and quite a little town sprang up, ‘as if by magic’.
The Licking Summit Navigation Company cut a channel (boatway) through the eastern port of the reservoir from the feeder (“Hole in the Wall”) some three miles north-east of Millersport on the Ohio Canal to Thornport on the south-east extremity of the reservoir. A two-horse, tread-wheel boat was to tow canal boats to and from Thornport along this cleared channel through the stumps, logs and snags of the reservoir.
According to Colburn’s History of Perry County, “Things went on swimmingly for a season or so and the strange craft plied regularly between Thornport and the Feeder on the Ohio Canal. carrying out the surplus grain products of the township and returning with salt, groceries, hardware, dry goods, and other commodes.”
We know from the wreck of the BLACK DIAMOND (CC No. 100) that, by the boating season of 1850, though the Thornport Channel may have been passable if the steersman stayed in it, there was certainly no towboat in evidence. So, just what happened to the grand plan of the promoters of the Licking Summit Reservoir Navigation Company?
First, there appears to have been a considerable amount of dissension between the president and two directors of the navigation company and many of the stockholders. As early as January 24, 1843, a number of the latter, asked the State Legislature to examine the books and financial transactions of the company. The State appointed a three-man committee to do so, but stated that, first, the complainants must post a financial bond to pay for the examination. Nothing was apparently done about that complaint. So, apparently, by 1843, some stockholders of the navigation company at least, were not receiving the dividends they had expected.
Going back to Colburn may give us a reason why they were not, “One day a short flotilla of canal boats was being towed slowly across the delightful, placid waters and all the earth and sky apparently as lovely and serene as the blue waters of the reservoir itself. A storm suddenly loomed up in the northwestern sky; and almost in a twinkling rain decended in torrents, forked lightenings flashed, and the thunder rolled and jarred until even the large catfish at the bottom of the lake were stunned. Worse than all for the hardy seafarers, the winds blew a fearful hurricane. The waves of the agitated lake tossed and rolled around as fearful as the waters of the Atlantic in mid-ocean. There could be but one result. The frail fleet was not prepared to weather such a gale, and the whole concern was wrecked, the boatmen thankful that they escaped a watery grave.
“It is probable that the boatmen who encountered this “storm at sea” carried exaggerated reports of it to the men of the Ohio Canal. It is certain that no Captain of men would venture out into that shallow reservoir again. Thus, ingloriously, ended the inland navigation of Thorn Township”
The men who wrote county histories in the 1880s invariably did their research in the memories of the resident “old-timers”. Often these tales, told by an oldster to a young, gullible reporter, were more fanciful than factual.
Going back to dry, State records we find that on January 15, 1851, probably less than six months after the wreck of the BLACK DIAMOND, a petition signed by 225 stockholders of the Licking Summit Reservoir Navigation Company were again asking the State Legislature to look into the dealings of the company. The petition complained that the president and two directors were running the company with no input from the stockholders. They also stated that, “. . .near nineteen years has passed since the completion of this Improvement during which time an immense amount of freight was carried to and from the Ohio Canal. It has now become so filled up and overgrown with vegetation that it is with the greatest difficulty that boats can pass, with 1/4 freight through the channel. Your petitioners are well aware that there are twice the amount of funds in the hands of the president and directors to put the channel in the best navigable order, and to keep a towboat in readiness.”
Obviously someone’s arithmetic is off. Nineteen years before 1851 would have been 1832. The enlargement of the reservoir wasn’t even begun until 1837. We’re guessing the channel improvement was completed in 1842 or ‘43. We are also guessing that the tread-mill tow-boat was never more than a gleam in a navigation company director’s eye at one time.
It seems probable that, when the channel was dug, the spoil was thrown up onto the north embankment of the reservoir to form a crude towpath. That the channel was still known and being used in 1850 can be proven by the one successful voyage and the second disastrous one of the BLACK DIAMOND in 1850. That the stockholders were not getting many, if any, dividends is obvious. But that is probably more to it not being a very profitable operation rather than deceitful management.
So, how much longer than 1850 was that channel available? I don’t know. Perhaps some industrious historian from that area knows, or can find out and will tell us.
In the meantime, we can learn from Colburn that a railroad was begun through Thornport in 1853, but never completed. There wasn’t a successful railroad through that village until 1871, but other railroads in the vicinity probably took most of the grain shipments away from the reservoir navigation before the 1860s took a good hold.
i History of Fairfield and Perry Counties, E. S. Colburn, 1883.
In addition to being the past president of the American Canal Society and author, David Barber was also the man behind the Blackstone Canal Conservancy. In his computer files, I found the following issues of The Prism which was the newsletter of the Conservancy. I tried looking this up and can’t find any current mention of the publication on the web. As these start with issue 45, June 2014, and go up through his death with issue 56, December 2016, there had to be another 44 issues out there.
I found the Blackstone Canal Conservancy on the Wayback Machine at www.blackstonecc.org. Sadly, the links no longer work.
