Part 14 (1/2)
Ca.n.a.l REVENUES.
The total amount of receipts for tolls, for the year ending on the 31st of October, 1835, was as follows:
OHIO Ca.n.a.l.
Cleaveland, $72,718.72
Newark, $20,487.85 Akron, 6,362.90
Columbus, 4,605.37 Ma.s.sillon, 13,585.78
Circleville, 9,651.44 Dover, 8,096.42
Chillicothe, 12,134.75 Roscoe, 14,555.83
Portsmouth, 23,118.78 ---------- ---------- 115,319.45 $69,998.00 115,319.45 ----------- Total, $185,317.45
MIAMI Ca.n.a.l.
Dayton, 14,016.75 Middleton, 8,747.19 Hamilton, 3,664.88 Cincinnati, 25,803.77 ---------- Total, 52,232.59 ---------- Total tolls received on both ca.n.a.ls, $237,550.04 Deduct contingent expenses on Ohio ca.n.a.l, $5,836.05 Do. on Miami ca.n.a.l, 2,954.68--8,790.73 ------------ $228,759.31
Toll received on Lancaster Lat. Ca.n.a.l, 1,062.56 From water rents and sale of State Lots, 3,700.07 Arrearages paid of Tolls received in October, 1834, 7,835.26 ----------- $242,357.20
POPULATION OF OHIO AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
In Population.
From Increase.
1790, about 3,000
1790 to 1800, 42,365 1800, ” 45,365
1800 ” 1810, 185,395 1810, ” 230,760
1810 ” 1820, 350,674 1820, ” 581,434
1820 ” 1830, 356,469 1830, ” 937,903
1830 ” 1835, 437,097 1835, _estimated_, 1,375,000
_Rivers._--The streams which flow into the Ohio river, are the Mahoninga branch of the Beaver, Little Beaver, Muskingum, Hockhocking, Scioto, Little Miami, and Great Miami. Those which flow from the northward into lake Erie, are the Maumee, Portage, Sandusky, Huron, Cuyahoga, Grand, and Ashtabula. Hence the State is divided into two unequal inclined planes, the longest of which slopes towards the Ohio, and the shortest towards the lake. The head waters of the Muskingum, Scioto and Miami, interlock with those of the Cuyahoga, Sandusky, and Maumee, so as to render the construction of ca.n.a.ls not only practicable, but comparatively easy. All the large streams are now navigable for boats during the spring season.
_Internal Improvements._--These consist of ca.n.a.ls, rail-roads, turnpike roads, and the National road, now under the supervision of, and owned by, the State. The ca.n.a.lling is managed by a Board of Commissioners. The State ca.n.a.ls were projected about 1823, and, considering the youthful character of the State, its want of funds and other circ.u.mstances, they are, undoubtedly, the greatest works ever executed in America.
The _Ohio and Erie Ca.n.a.l_ connects lake Erie with the Ohio river. It commences at Cleaveland, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, pa.s.ses along that river and its tributaries, to the summit level, from thence to the waters of the Muskingum, and to the border of Muskingum county; from thence it strikes across the country past Newark, in Licking county, and strikes the Scioto, down the valley of which it proceeds to its mouth, at Portsmouth. The princ.i.p.al places on the ca.n.a.l are Akron, New Portage, Ma.s.sillon, Bolivar, New Philadelphia, Coshocton, Newark, Bloomfield, Circleville, Chillicothe, Piketon, and Portsmouth. It was commenced on the 4th of July, 1825, and completed in 1832; and, together with the Miami ca.n.a.l to Dayton, cost about $5,500,000, and has greatly enriched the State and the people. Private property along its line has risen from five to ten fold.
LENGTH OF OHIO AND ERIE Ca.n.a.l.
Miles.
Main trunk from Cleaveland to Portsmouth, 310 Navigable feeder from main trunk to Columbus, 11 Navigable feeder from main trunk to Granville, 6 Muskingum side cut, from the Muskingum river at Dresden, 3 Navigable feeder from the Tuscarawas river, 3 Navigable feeder from the Walhonding river, 1 --- Total length of Ohio ca.n.a.l and branches, 334
The _Miami Ca.n.a.l_ commences at Cincinnati, and, pa.s.sing through the towns of Reading, Hamilton, Middletown, Franklin, and Miamisburg, terminates at Dayton, 65 miles. It has been navigated from Dayton to the head of Main street, Cincinnati, since the spring of 1829. An extension of the work is now in progress, to be carried along the vallies of St.
Mary's and Au Glaise rivers, and unite with the Wabash and Erie ca.n.a.l, at Defiance; distance from Cincinnati about 190 miles.
An act pa.s.sed the Ohio legislature in 1834, for continuing the Wabash and Erie ca.n.a.l, (now constructing in Indiana, by that State,) from the western boundary of Ohio, to the Maumee bay. Operations have been suspended by the boundary dispute with Michigan.
The _Mahoning and Beaver Ca.n.a.l_ has already been noticed, under the head of Western Pennsylvania. It is proposed to carry it from Akron, on the Portage summit, along the valley of the Mahoning river, to Newcastle, on the Beaver division of the Pennsylvania ca.n.a.l. Distance in Ohio, 77 miles. The work is in progress.
The _Sandy Creek and Little Beaver Ca.n.a.l_ is in progress by a chartered company. It commences near the town of Bolivar, on the Ohio and Erie ca.n.a.l, in Tuscarawas county, and pa.s.ses along near the line of Stark and Carroll counties to the Little Beaver in Columbiana county, and from thence to the Ohio river.
The _Mad River and Sandusky Rail-Road_ will extend from Dayton, on the Miami ca.n.a.l, to Sandusky, through Springfield, Urbanna, Bellefontaine, Upper Sandusky, Tiffin, and down the valley of the Sandusky river to lake Erie. The route is remarkably favorable for locomotive power.
Length 153 miles; estimated cost, $11,000 per mile. The work was commenced in September, 1835.