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In the first part of 1817, the Legislature
considered a resolution relating to a canal between Lake Erie and the
Ohio River. No action was taken and the subject was not again agitated
until 1819. Gov. Brown appointed three commissioners
in 1820, for the purpose of employing an efficient engineer and such assistants
as he deemed necessary, for the purpose of surveying a practical route
for this canal. The commissioners were restricted in their actions until
Congress should accept a proposition in behalf of the State, for a donation
and sale of the public lands lying upon and near the route of the proposed
canal. A delay was thus occasioned for two years.
In 1822, the matter was referred to a committee of the House of Representatives.
This committee approved and recommended the employment of the engineer.
They furthermore added illustrations to prove the feasibility of the project.
James Geddes, a skillful engineer of New York, was in
due time appointed to the position and instructed to make the necessary
examinations and surveys.
The surveys were made, and estimates given of the expenses, which documents
were laid before the Legislature at several sessions.
In 1825, an act was passed providing for the internal improvement of
the State by navigable canals. Directly thereafter, the State set vigorously
about the work of constructing two canals, one leading from the Ohio to
Lake Erie, by way of the valleys of the Scioto and Muskingum, the other
from Cincinnati to Dayton.
The first canal-boat from Cincinnati to Dayton, reached her destination
in 1829, on the 25th of January. This outlet of communication was extended
to Lake Erie, and was completed in 1845. The largest artificial lake now
known is on the elevation between the Ohio and the lake, in Mercer County,
and supplies the St. Mary's feeder of the Miami Canal, about three miles
distant, eastwardly. This reservoir is about nine miles long, and from
two to four broad.
Two walls of earth, from ten to twenty feet high, were formed, on the
east and west, which united with the elevations north and south, surrounded
this basin. When the water was admitted, whole farms were submerged, and
the "neighbors" complained lest this overflow should tempt miasma.
So great was the excitement, that over one hundred and fifty residents
of the county united, and with shovels and spades, made a breach in the
embankment. Many holding prominent positions in the county were engaged
in this work,
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and all laid themselves liable to the State laws, which made
the despoiling of public works a penitentiary offense.
The matter was taken up by the courts, but a grand jury could not be
found in Mercer County to find a bill of indictment.
The officers who had charge of the work, ignored the law requiring the
cuting and saving of the timber on lands appropriated, for canal reservoirs.
The trees were ruthlessly girdled, and thousands of acres of valuable
timber that might have been highly desirable in the building of bridges,
etc., were destroyed. However, an adjustment was finally effected, and
the work was prosecuted with the entire approbation of the people, who
were convinced that convenient transportation was to be desired. |