484 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



therefore, did not wait for proof positive of the advantages of improved 

 waterways. The evidence was forthcoming had it been necessary, for 

 at once after the Erie canal had wedded the lake and the ocean north- 

 ern Ohio felt a new throb of commercial life. Lake trade was stimu- 

 lated, harbors were improved, wharves and warehouses constructed; 

 and prices advanced on all commodities that could be conveniently 

 reached. The Ohio legislature had taken the initiative without these 

 evidences. In seven years the Ohio canal, connecting Portsmouth on 

 the river at the mouth of the Scioto with Cleveland on the lake, 306 

 miles long, was completed. The Miami canal joining Cincinnati and 

 Toledo was commenced in the same year, reached Dayton in 1830, 5 but 

 was not completed to the lake till 1845. Along either canal route trade 

 activity shortly developed the sleepy villages into thrifty towns and 

 cities. Later adjustments have left some of these places only a retro- 

 spect; the canal period was their heyday. Others, however, as Newark, 

 Coshocton, Massillon, Akron, Hamilton, Troy and Defiance, have con- 

 tinued to prosper under the conditions incident to the transfer of 

 shipping from the canals to railroads. 



The Ohio canal, the course of which was controlled by other con- 

 siderations than merely joining the river and the lake, makes an ascent 

 of almost 500 feet. Its construction, relative to its length, was much 

 more expensive than the Erie canal which ascends only 445 feet. The 

 maintenance of the Ohio canal also involved greater expense. For 

 this reason, with the extension of railroad lines in the state, we find that 

 by 1856 the canals of Ohio ceased to earn running expenses. 6 During 

 about twenty years, however, these canals were of great commercial im- 

 portance to the contiguous parts of the state. Even upon the opening 

 of the canal from Dresden to Cleveland the price of wheat advanced 

 from $.25 to $1.00 per bushel. 7 



When we speak of railroads to-day we at once think of one or 

 another of the great through lines. In the early days of railroad con- 

 struction no one dreamed of even a trans-state road. Until recent 

 years a through line always meant the consolidation of short inde- 

 pendently owned segments. Local interest in railroad building in 

 Ohio was lively from the start. Thrifty commercial relations empha- 

 sized the inadequacy of boating facilities. The efficiency of the Lake 

 Erie and Erie canal route was not questioned, but there were few canals 

 in Ohio to give access to the lake. The first steam road to operate in 

 the state (1836) had one terminus on the lake at Toledo, the other 

 being at Adrian, Mich. Sandusky had no canal, but by 1839 it com- 



5 The Ohio Gazetteer, Columbus, 1839, p. 528. 



6 Poor's " Manual of the Railways of the United States," 1881, p. xvii. 



7 Henry Howe, "Historical Collections of Ohio," Columbus, Vol. II., 1891, 

 p. 325. 



