| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners |
| Title: | Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners Records, Series II |
| Dates: | 1825-1914 |
| Extent: | 0.20 linear feet (1 container) |
| Abstract: | The Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners was created in 1822 through an act passed by the State of Ohio General Assembly. Early members included Thomas Worthington, Isaac Minor, and Alfred Kelley. Their duties were to examine, survey, and estimate the practicality of a canal connecting the Ohio River with Lake Erie, and to make an estimation of cost. During construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal, each commissioner was responsible for certain sections of the canal, including hiring laborers, engineers, and building suppliers. In the 1830s, Commissioners continued to mange the completed waterway, employing toll collectors, maintenance laborers, and resident engineers. Commissioners also approved requests for water rights and were responsible for the canal's finances. The canal continued to operate until a flood in 1913 destroyed much of it. The collection consists of correspondence, proposals for work on the canal, receipts for supplies ordered and delivered, legal records, and engineers' notes and reports. Most of the material documents the first twenty years of the canal's operation between Akron and Cleveland, including its planning and construction. Includes correspondence, both pro and con, concerning construction of a canal, letters requesting jobs and water rights for sawmills near the locks, and proposals for work digging the canal by individual property owners. Alfred Kelley is well-represented in the material contained in this collection. |
| MS Number | MS 4658 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
The Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners (1822-1914) was officially created on January 31, 1822, through an act passed by the State of Ohio General Assembly "Authorizing an Examination into the Practicability of Connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River." Before that, an ad hoc commission had been appointed in 1820 to do a preliminary investigation of the canal, under the act "Respecting the Navigable Communication between Lake Erie and the Ohio River."
This commission's first members were some of Ohio's earliest statesmen and leaders, including Thomas Worthington, Isaac Minor, and Alfred Kelley, who represented the Cleveland-Akron transportation route of the canal. Their duties were to examine, survey, and estimate the practicality of a canal connecting the Ohio River with Lake Erie and to make a close estimation of the cost of such a canal. Commissioners also set strict specifications for the width, depth, and building materials for both the canal and towpath. Separate Fund Commissioners, appointed in 1825, searched for funding sources for the canal, following the state-approved recommendations of the Board of Canal Commissioners.
During the building of the canal, each commissioner was responsible for certain sections of the canal's construction, which included hiring laborers, engineers, and building suppliers. In the 1830s, the Board of Commissioners continued to manage the completed waterway, employing toll collectors, maintenance laborers, and resident engineers to make regular inspections. Commissioners also approved requests for water-rights and were responsible for the canal's finances. To their credit, the canal cost only $15,000 per mile and it eventually paid off every bond and loan that was taken out for its construction. In fact, the canal built from Akron to Cleveland cost only $442,130 to build, $50,000 less than what was originally estimated.
Throughout the 19th century, the Board of Commissioners continued to administer the canal for the state as it was regularly repaired and upgraded with cement locks. It continued to operate until the 1910s, long after the railroads surpassed it as the preferred transportation of goods in Ohio. In 1913, however, a major flood tore through canal banks and towpaths, and some cement locks had to be dynamited to decrease rivers' water flow. After the flood, the canal was never rebuilt, having already outlived its usefulness to the state.
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Ohio and Erie Canal
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Alfred Kelly
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for Daniel Kelly
The Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners Records, Series II, 1825-1914, consist of correspondence, proposals for work on the canal, receipts for supplies ordered and delivered, legal records, and engineers' notes and reports. Most of the material documents the first twenty years of the canal's operation between Akron and Cleveland, including its planning and construction.
This collection will be of great interest and usefulness to scholars studying canal development and its impact on state history and individual communities, especially in the Akron/Cleveland area. Although most letters reflect Ohioans great interest and encouragement of the canal, there is correspondence that reveals negative feelings toward the canal, including incidents of sabotage and vandalism. A great many opportunities for employment and business were created for the canal's construction and operation, as is evident in the amount of letters sent inquiring about jobs and water-rights for sawmills near the locks. There are also letters with proposals for work, reflecting the Commission's encouragement of land owners to bid for the jobs of digging a half-mile or more on their own land for the canal ditch. In that way, the state could obtain good labor and farmers received hard cash, which was needed for taxes and always in short supply in rural Ohio. Alfred Kelley is also represented in a good number of documents within these records. Nearly every piece of material in the collection offers an interesting perspective of canal history in Ohio, from its planners and administrators to the public it affected so greatly.
None.
Related MaterialThe researcher should also consult MS 382 Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners Records.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4658 Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners Records, Series II, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
John D. Bittner, 1987 and 1990; and Vernon Fairman, 1993.
Processed by Rebecca M. Johnson in 1993.
Ohio Board of Canal Commissioners Records, Series II 1825-1914 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1-2 | Correspondence, regarding suggestions for planning, progress reports, proposals for contractual work, reports on bank bonds and funding, requests for water rights, reports on damage, applications for employment, and engineers' letters to commissioners 1825-1839 1841-1878 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Legal documents, land deed 1825 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Legal documents, signed petition from Muskingham County recommending an engineer for that section of the river 1843 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Legal documents, printed petition given before the Assembly of the State of Ohio concerning land deeded to the canal 1852 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Proposals and receipts for providing and delivering stone and gravel 1826-1849 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Engineers records, notebook documenting waterline measurements, entitled "Location of a line of canal commencing at William Taylors the Northern Termination of the Licking Summit line to Rocky Fork, Nov. 6, 1826" 1826 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Engineers records, "Report of Engineers in regard to Coal Mines Hocking Valley, 1836" 1836 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Engineers records, notebook containing notes on canal condition and elevations, meetings with area residents re: canal, upkeep, and trade, for canal from Portage to Cincinnati 1890 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Engineers records, cards reporting gauge at Laramie Reservoir August-September 1914 | |||||||||