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 THE FIRE LANDS. 
 
 V^- 
 
 Second Historical Period 
 
 Hn HbbiesB 
 
 Delivered at the Twenty-third Annual MEETix(i of tije Fire Lands Historical 
 Society. (Huron and Erie C(^unties), at Norwalk. 
 
 Ohio, July 4th, 1879. • 
 
 BY CLARK WAOGONER 
 
 1882. 
 FuBNisHED poa Publication in the Fokthcomixh Volume ok tse " Pioneer. 
 

i.cyi^'i^&7 
 
 SECOND HISTORICAL PERIOD OF THE FIRE LANDS,' 
 
 All Address Delivered at the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Fire 
 Lands Historical Society, held on the Fair Urounds at Xorwalk, 
 Ohio/ July 4th, 1879. 
 
 BY CLARK WAGGONER, ESQ,, OF TOLEDO, O. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gen- 
 tlemen : 
 
 In accepting an invitation to ad- 
 dress you on this occasion, I could not 
 do so as a veritable "Pioneer," since I 
 can hardly claim rank among the en- 
 terprising, heroic and devoted people, 
 who voluntarily surrendered the priv- 
 ileges and benefits of established soci- 
 ety and came to open up to civiliza- 
 tion and development, the wilds of 
 this section. Though not a Pioneer, I 
 am, nevertheless, the son of Pioneers, 
 and probably one of very few persons 
 of my age, who can claim the "'Fire 
 Lands" as their nativity, 
 
 A decade had hardly elapsed from 
 the earliest settlement of this section, 
 when your speaker was born to expe- 
 riences incident to childhood in a new 
 country, many of which came with 
 impressions — some of joy and some of 
 sorrow — which can never be removed. 
 I well remember that my tirst play- 
 mate, outside my family, was an In- 
 dian boy — Jack Ogontz — a name prom- 
 inently identified with the aboriginal 
 history of this region, a relative of 
 my early play-fellow having supplied 
 t'le name first borne by Sandusky, as 
 
 the "Ogontz Place." I remember the 
 "Log Cabin," with all that name im- 
 plies. I remember the Log School- 
 House, Avith greased-paper windows — 
 its puncheon floor and puncheon seats 
 — its ample fire-place and its pioneer 
 "Master." I remember a father's and a 
 mother's toils and privations in the 
 battle of life, and I often thank God 
 for the heroism and fidelity with which 
 they fought their battle. With them, 
 it is over, and it only remains to me, 
 to see that none of the privileges and 
 benefits received from them are lost 
 or wasted. 
 
 Israel Waggoner, my father, came 
 to this County in 1811, and was a mail- 
 carrier between the "Mouth of Huron" 
 and Mansfield, soon after his arrival 
 and when there was but one "clear- 
 ing" between the two points. On each 
 passage he was compelled to spend a 
 night in the woods, and often to rec- 
 ognize the unpleasant nearness of the 
 wolf and other wild beasts. My na- 
 tive place is in Milan Township, and 
 on what has since been known as the 
 "Waggoner farm," on the Huron Riv- 
 er, one mile North of the "Old County 
 Seat" and the Abbott farm. My father 
 
removed his family to Milan ^'illage 
 in 1828, where he died in 1857, leaving 
 the record of "an honest man,'' still 
 *'God's noblest work.'' Mj' mother, Lu- 
 cretia Waggoner, then the wife of Pe- 
 ter liake, came to the Fire Lands in 
 1815; soon after buried her husband; 
 and in 1819, was married witli my 
 father. She died in October, 1872, Sb% 
 years old — as ripe in usefulness and 
 honor as she was in life's toils, 
 
 THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS. 
 
 What I say of those so dear to me, 
 is also true of the most of tliose who 
 shared with them the severe experi- 
 ences of wilderness life, whereby the 
 "goodly heritage" now enjoyed by their 
 -children and successors were provid- 
 ed, Tliey came and suffered and toil- 
 ed, more for others than for them- 
 selves; and they did this not in vain. 
 Like our Revolutionary Fathers, they 
 "builded better than they knew." The 
 Fire Lands of that day present a con- 
 dition of development and prosperity 
 of which their first settlers could have 
 had no conception. My mother has 
 often told me of the years of her long- 
 ing to see the Erie Canal completed, 
 that by the facilities thus to be sup- 
 plied, she might some day return to 
 her Vermont home and meet her 
 friends. JShe did not return by canal, 
 but after nearly 40 years of absence, 
 she returned by steamer to Buffalo, 
 and thence by rail, making the trip in 
 36 hours, against the 42 days occupied 
 in the outward journey. .Such con- 
 trasts indicate sometiiingof the change 
 which time and well-directed toils and 
 enterprise have wrought for our coun- 
 try. God bless the few of these heroic 
 adventurers yet spared to enjoy the 
 fruits of their labor, and sanctify to 
 our just appreciation the memory of 
 
 those, our benefactors, who have ceas- 
 ed from earth. As a sou of pioneers, 
 and a beneficiary of the courage, wis- 
 dom and labors of that class, I deem 
 it both a privilege and a duty, on this 
 day and in this presence to express 
 my sincere thanks to every one of that 
 brave and true band, for what they 
 did for me and for all who shall, in 
 coming time, participate in the fruits 
 of their pioneer life. Literally and 
 eminently, "their works do follow 
 them." 
 
 TAVO STAGES IN PROGRESS. 
 
 In a retrospect of events in this sec- 
 tion, two distinct eras or stages ap- 
 pear. The first of these — actually com- 
 mencing about 1810, but practically 
 dating from the close of the war in 
 1815 — might be regarded as the Pre- 
 paratory Period, occupied chiefly with 
 the toils and dangers of wilderness 
 life, with numbers too few and scat- 
 tered for much attention to the asso- 
 ciations and agencies common to es- 
 tal)lished society and government. 
 
 The second era I would date from 
 about 1825, when the pioneers had so 
 well performed their foundation work, 
 that old Huron County was ready for 
 the advent of those who, upon the 
 substruction thus provided, were to 
 place the superstructure of advanced 
 civilization and permanent institu- 
 tions. It was about that time that the 
 press, the great agency of intelligence 
 and virtue, made its advent, and it 
 was not long thereafter, that various 
 organizations looking to the intellect- 
 ual and moral, as well as the material 
 interests of the people, made their ap- 
 pearance. The history of the first of 
 these two eras, as given by your Soci- 
 ety's valuable publication, (the Pion- 
 eer), has been mainly completed, so 
 
far as material is likely to be gather- 
 ed from the participants and witnesses 
 of that period. In view of this fact, 
 and especially of my unfitness for 
 speaking at length of real pioneer life, 
 it has seemed to me that it would be 
 proper at this time, with the brevity 
 made necessary by the occasion, to re- 
 fer to some of the facts and events 
 connected with the second of these 
 two divisions of time. 
 
 THE PIONEER PRESS. 
 
 As indicated by facts already given, 
 the commencement of my years of ob- 
 servation dates with the advent of 
 what I have spoken of as the second 
 period in Fire Lands history, which 
 fact may justify my attempt to speak 
 of that time in connection with subse- 
 quent events. And since, in the Prov- 
 idence of God, printing and journal- 
 ism came to constitute my life-work, 
 you will not be surprised that I begin 
 my references where I began that 
 work. In February, 1834 — 45 years 
 ago — I became an apprentice in the 
 office of the Western Intelligencer, a 
 weekly newspaper then published at 
 Milan by M. H. Tilden & Co.— the 
 senior of the firm being Hon. Myron 
 H. Tilden, subsequently of Toledo and 
 President Judge of the Common Pleas 
 Court of that Circuit, and now of Cin- 
 cinnati; and the junior, George M. 
 Swan, afterwards at Columbus and in 
 Iowa, in which State he died a few 
 years since. Those were primitive 
 days in journalism. Newspapers were 
 small and their '-circulation" limited, 
 with what there was maintained 
 with much effort. A chief difficulty 
 was found in a lack of mail facilities. 
 To supplement tliese, some publishers 
 resorted to the expedient of supplying 
 portions of their subscribers by means 
 
 of carriers, who on horse-back made 
 weekly trips on stated routes, deliver- 
 ing packages of papers in different 
 neighborhoods. My route lay on the 
 stage-road from Milan to Florence 
 Corners, (10 miles); thence back via 
 the "North Kidge Ptoad" to Berlin 
 (Center, (now Berlin Heights); and 
 thence home by Harper's Corners and 
 the "Hine Settlement" — making a ride 
 of about 25 miles, which was per- 
 formed weekly, with few "postpone- 
 ments on account of weather." 
 Through the week my time was divid- 
 ed between type-setting and other 
 work in the office, and the "chores" of 
 th& office and house, including the 
 chopping of the wood used by both, 
 and not excepting the bringing from 
 a neighbor's well the supply of water 
 required for the weekly "washing" — 
 with such other and special service as. 
 the "Printer's Devil" was expected to 
 perform — and all for the stated sum. 
 of $30 per year, "board and washing 
 included." I am thus particular, in 
 the hope that these facts may show to 
 the apprentices of these days, that the 
 "hard lot" of earning wages, is not a. 
 recent matter— a fact which many 
 seem not to understand. And may I be 
 allowed to say in this connection, that 
 of all my experience in an active life, 
 now not short, there is nothing which. 
 I review with more satisfaction, than 
 that the practical lesson which I learn- 
 ed first and best, was the fact that I 
 had no rightful claim to any property 
 interest or possession that I had not 
 earned; and that I value this one les- 
 son as a rich reward for all the toil 
 and denial which it cost me. At the 
 end of IS months' service at Milan, I 
 came to Norwalk, and in 1838 com- 
 pleted my apprenticeship in the Re- 
 flector office, then owned and conduct- 
 
ed by Samuel and Charles A. rieston, 
 names long familiar with and honored 
 by many of my hearers. 
 
 1 have materuilly aided my memory 
 as to facts and dates in my present 
 work, by consultation of the tiles of 
 the Reflector, dating from its com- 
 mencement, Feb'y 2, 1830. I may here 
 remark, that these are the only com- 
 plete newspaper liles of the Fire Lands 
 press previous to 1843, and hence, they 
 are of great value; and I may add, 
 that the same record has been pre- 
 served to this date, covering over 40 
 years of time. 
 
 A CONTRAST. 
 
 I have already indicated some of the 
 obstacles with whicli the pioneer press 
 contended. A few additional facts will 
 give an idea of the change which has 
 taken place in that onnection. The 
 death of George I"\'. of England, oc- 
 curred June 2Gth, 1.S30. The event was 
 first made known to the readers of the 
 Jle/leclor, August 14th, 49 days there- 
 after. The French Revolution of 1830 
 commenced July 2Sth, and the excit- 
 ing news was published in that paper 
 !Septeml)er 21st, after the lapse of .J5 
 days. In the New York Spectator, 
 Irom which it was copied, the news 
 was headed, "Twenty-three Days Later 
 From Europe." At that time, we will 
 remember, communication with the 
 old world was by sail exclusively, and 
 so closely were incoming ships watch- 
 ed, that the leading Atlantic journals 
 kept fast-sailing news-yachts, by 
 means of which they could intercept 
 ships and obtain their intelligence be- 
 fore tliey could reach the port. This 
 was the advanced step in journalistic 
 enterprise of those days. How won- 
 derful the change I First, came the 
 ocean steamers, giving regular com- 
 
 munication and changing the time 
 from 40 days to 10 days. It was a great 
 improvement, to reduce the time by 
 75 per cent. ; but how much greater 
 that, by which the remaining 25 per 
 cent, was obliterated. JS'o other fact 
 in human progress, to me seems so 
 strange, as the Electric Telegraph, by 
 means of which continents and oceans 
 alike have ceased to be impediments 
 t© communication. -Instead of wait- 
 ing 50 to GO days for European news, 
 the people of the Fire Lands now re- 
 ceive it on the very day, and some- 
 times, (by local time,) earlier than the 
 occurrence of the events stated. In 
 illustration of what the telegraph has 
 accomplished in tliis connection, I 
 may state, that during the Franco- 
 German w'ar, reports of battles fought 
 in the interior of the continent, were 
 given by the daily press of the United 
 States on the same day or the morning 
 of tlie next. And, strange as it may 
 seem to some, the journals of our 
 Western States had more complete re- 
 ports than did those of Paris or Lon- 
 don. On several occasions, I made 
 careful comparison in this respect, 
 and found my own paper to contain 
 from two to four times as much of 
 such intelligence, as did any papers of 
 the cities named. This is explained 
 by the fact, that each Paris and Lon- 
 don journal, as a rule, had only the 
 news gathered for and by itself; while 
 the press of the United States had not 
 only the most desirable of the reports 
 of all trans-Atlantic journals, but also 
 those of the New York Associated 
 Press, and all special reports for the 
 Eastern press — thus giving to the 
 Western papers the accumulations of 
 the enterprise of their contemporaries 
 on both shores of the Atlantic. If in 
 former years, the public press was a 
 
"map of busj' life," what is it now ? 
 And in the amount of reading sup- 
 plied, the change is only less extraor- 
 dinary. For instance, the average 
 amount of matter given by tlie largest 
 Eastern journals 45 years ago, was 
 about equal to 40 ordinary book pages ; 
 whereas, I have recently purchased 
 for five cents each regular issues of a 
 paper printed 1,000 miles west of Xew 
 York, whose contents w^ould make a 
 volume of 400 like pages, of which at 
 least 75 were occupied by telegraphic 
 reports. This advance is largely due 
 to the wonderful increase in facilities 
 for the distril)ution of newspapers. 
 The neighborhoods which in 1834-5 
 depended upon me for the deliverj' — 
 once a week — of neAVs 60 days from 
 Europe, now receive the same daily 
 by Railway, and only one day old. 
 
 FACILITIES IN TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 Turning to the consideration of the 
 material development of this country, 
 •attention is called first to the intro- 
 duction of steam as a power in navi- 
 gation, whereby the steamboat and 
 the propellor became important agen- 
 cies in commerce. It is not necessary 
 to my present purpose, to refer to that 
 matter, further than to say, that on 
 tjie entire chain of Lakes, there was 
 no other section that did as much to- 
 ward bringing into use this great 
 agency, as did the Fire Lands. Hu- 
 ron and Sandusky, and especially the 
 former, were early prominent as 
 steamboat-building points. Milan had 
 an active hand in the work. For 
 about 25 years the steamer held un- 
 disputed sway in the transportation of 
 passengers and lighter goods, and to 
 it is the West largely indebted for the 
 start it got between 1830 and 1855, at 
 which latter date Railway competition 
 
 began to make itself felt in a contest 
 which has not yet ended. 
 
 THE RAILWAY MOVEMENT. 
 
 Railroads were first introduced in 
 England about 1825, but it was sev- 
 eral years later before lines of much 
 length were built. The value of this 
 new agency was at once so far appre- 
 ciated in the L" nited States, as to sug- 
 gest steps for its introduction here. 
 Many of the earlier projects were 
 crude, and some of them ludicrous, 
 viewed from the stand-point of pres- 
 ent development and experience. Thus, 
 in December, 1829, Col. Dewitt Clin- 
 ton, a Civil Engineer of prominence, 
 wrote a letter setting forth the practi- 
 cability and advantages of what he 
 named the "Great Western Railroad." 
 It was to start near New York City, 
 ascend the valley of the Tioga River, 
 intersect the head-waters of the Gene- 
 see and the Alleghany; communicate 
 Avith I.ake Erie and cross the Cuya- 
 hoga, Maumee, Wabash and other 
 streams; and terminate on the east 
 bank of the Mississippi at the mouth 
 of Rock river. The length of the line 
 was placed at 1,050 miles; and the 
 time for construction at 10 years. It 
 was calculated that freight could be 
 transported over the road at 134.75 per 
 ton, or #1.73 per 100 lbs; and the time 
 for the passage days. The average 
 rate for freight from St. Louis to Xew 
 York via Xew Orleans at that time 
 was $02.50 per ton, and the time about 
 50 days. 
 
 Another and counter project, urged 
 on the ground of its cheapness, was 
 the construction of a Railway over 
 substantially the same route, and to 
 consist of posts set in tlie earth, 10 
 feet apart, which were to be surmount- 
 ed with hard-wood plank, 0x3 inches, 
 
6 
 
 placed edgewise, which were to con- 
 stitute a track, of which four were to 
 be provided. There was to be no iron 
 in the work, except the bolts and nuts 
 used in fastening the wood rails to the 
 posts. The estimated cost of construct- 
 ing 1,000 miles of a four track Eail- 
 way of this description, Including 
 right of way, was as follows : 
 
 Right of way, $ 532 800 
 
 Lease of mills to saw planks 1 850 
 
 Getting out posts, 31 400 
 
 Bolts and nuts, 211 200 
 
 Levelling posts and laying 
 
 rails, 62 800 
 
 Setting posts, 31 400 
 
 Sawing, 35 500 
 
 Total, $ 906 950 
 
 Chimerical as this scheme now ap- 
 pears, it will be borne in mind by 
 many that a few years subsequently, 
 the Ohio Railroad, to extend from the 
 Pennsylvania State line to the Mau- 
 mee river, was undertaken, the dis- 
 tinctive feature of which was the use 
 of piles driven into the earth by steam 
 power, and on which the track, to con- 
 sist of wood stringers and flat rails, 
 was to be placed. After the expendi- 
 ture of $219,000 of State bonds and 
 the liberal issue of the Company's 
 notes, the project was suspended, 
 without the completion of any portion 
 of the line. 
 
 LOCAL KAILWAY SCHEMES. 
 
 The first important line of Railway 
 undertaken in this country, was the 
 Baltimore & Ohio, work on which 
 was commenced in 1828, and 40 miles 
 of which was completed in November, 
 1831, that being at the time the longest 
 line of Railway in the world. The 
 Fire Lands and Northern Ohio were 
 not far behind the foremost in this re- 
 spect. Among the first Railway chart- 
 ers obtained in the West, was one 
 
 for the Milan and Columbus Road, 
 (Feb. 11, 1832,) to extend "from the 
 head of the Milan Canal Basin, 
 through Norwalk, Peru and New 
 Haven to Columbus, with branches 
 thereof to Mansfield, Sunltury and Mt. 
 Vernon." The Road was allowed to 
 have "as many sets of tracks as they 
 should deem necessary." The corpor- 
 ators named in the charter held at 
 least one meeting,~but I find no record 
 of anothe.'. Of the Railway "might 
 have beens" in this section, this is first 
 in time and importance. Viewed in the 
 light of 47 years' development, how 
 easily (seemingly) might this project 
 have been made successful ; but it did 
 not seem so in the cloud of the former 
 period. About the same time, the 
 Mad River & Lake Erie Road was 
 chartered, to extend from Sandusky to 
 Springfield. It was practically the pi- 
 oneer Road of the Fire Lands and of 
 the State, active operations thereon 
 having been commenced Sept. 12, 1835, 
 and the track completed to Bellevue 
 in 1839. In the meantime, the Erie & 
 Kalamazoo Road had been opened 
 from Toledo to Adrian, Mich. The 
 Monroeville & Sandusky City Railroad 
 Company organized June 1, 1835, with 
 Isaac Mills, President ; Edward Baker, 
 Secretary, and Geo. Hollister, Trea^ 
 urer. The Directors were Isaac Mills, 
 John Fish, Henry Tice, James Ham- 
 ilton, Jr., Geo. Hollister, Richardson 
 Eaton, William Neill, Thomas Neill, 
 James Hollister and Maj. John G. 
 Camp. This was the second Road 
 opened on the Fire Lands, having been 
 operated for some time with horse- 
 power. In March, 1835, the Norwalk 
 & Huron Railroad was chartei'ed and 
 the Commissioners met at Norwalk 
 June 26th, to-wit : Pickett Latimer, 
 Obadiah Jenney and Moses Kimball, 
 
of Norwalk ; Kneeland Townsend, N. 
 M. Standart and Ebenezer Merry, of 
 Milan ; and Josiah Tracy, John Flee- 
 harty, H. W. Jenkins and John B. 
 Wilbor, of Huron. In Feb., 1836, this 
 Company advertised for bids for grad- 
 ing and timber, but these never were 
 used. In November, 1835, a meeting 
 of delegates from the several towns 
 interested was held at Norwalk to 
 promote the construction of a Rail- 
 road from Akron, via Medina, Nor- 
 walk and Lower Sandusky (now Fre- 
 mont,) to Perrysburg; but the project 
 met the fate of many others. At a 
 later date, the Vermillion & Ashland 
 Railroad attracted some attention and 
 led to the expenditure of some money, 
 but no part of the line was completed. 
 I need not stop here to detail the 
 history of the struggle for supremacy 
 which for 2.5 years has been, and still 
 is going on, between the sail and the 
 rail. It was and is a contest of ab- 
 sorbing concern to the West, particu- 
 larly, and whatever its results as to 
 the interests directly involved, its in- 
 cidental benefits to the country are 
 highly important, as will be seen from 
 the statement of a few facts. 
 
 THE FIRST SHIPMENT OF PRODUCE 
 
 from the Fire Lands was made about 
 1825, but there was no regular market 
 here until some years later. I well re- 
 member the ai rival at the former date 
 or thereabout^ of the schooner Red 
 Jacket, Capt. Augustus Walker, which 
 visited the different farms up the Hu- 
 ron river to gather such grain as the 
 farmers had to dispose of, when there 
 was not an improved harbor on the 
 Lakes. The opening of the Erie Canal 
 in 1825, furnished for the Lake region 
 its first reliable outlet for farm pro- 
 ducts.. Before that, there were periods 
 
 when merchandize could not be had 
 for anything grown by the settlers, 
 who sometimes were compelled to 
 hunt and trap for skins and furs, 
 with which to purchase clothing for 
 their families. With the opening of 
 the Erie Canal, the face of things in 
 this respect was entirely changed at 
 the West. Ohio entered upon her lib- 
 eral system of Canals ; Lake harbors 
 began to be improved ; the tide of im- 
 migration sat in ; vessel building was 
 stimulated and steamboat building 
 soon followed, in both of which the 
 Fire Lands were abreast of the fore- 
 most. The first step in that direction, 
 was a meeting held at Milan, in July, 
 1823, to take measures for the improve- 
 ment of the harbor at the mouth of 
 Huron river, which resulted in the 
 commencement of the work the next 
 year. Soon thereafter the Govern- 
 ment assumed the work, which has 
 since been in its hands. Not satisfied 
 with harbor facilities at Huron, the 
 people of Milan proposed practically 
 to remove that harbor to their own 
 place. To that end, the charter for 
 the Milan Canal Company was obtain- 
 ed in 1829, to construct a Ship-Canal 
 from Milan to Huron. The organiza- 
 tion was effected in August, 1831, with 
 Ebenezer Merry, Ebenezer Andrews, 
 Geo. Lockwood, Daniel Hamilton and 
 F. W. Fowler, as Directors. Opera- 
 tions were commenced the next year, 
 but the Canal was not opened until 
 July, 1839. This was a heavy under- 
 taking for 300 or 400 people, with very 
 little of capital. The effect of it was 
 to impart much confidence to Milan 
 and vicinity, and Canal construction 
 was looked upon as a very desirable 
 matter with ambitious villagers. Not 
 to be outdone by Milan, the people of 
 Norwalk projected, but did not under- 
 
take, a second transfer of the Huron 
 harbor, by shick-water improvement 
 of Huron river from Mihm to Under- 
 hilVs Mills, two miles west of the 
 Court House. In the lie/lector of 
 April 27, ISoO, is found the advertise- 
 ment of a mill-site at Enterprise, by 
 Ephraim Munger, one of the noted of 
 the pioneers, Avhose persistent pur- 
 suit of perpetual motion came to be 
 his chi'ef distinction. Mr. Munger said 
 of his property : "Witli a little ex- 
 pense, it will have the advantage of 
 boat navigation down the river to E. 
 Merry's mill-pond, in Milan, the place 
 intended to be the harbor of the Milan 
 Canal; so that flour and other produce 
 may be taken in tow-boats a distance 
 of two miles, where it may be shipped 
 for Lake navigation." 
 
 Three nearly coindident improve- 
 ments contributed to the rapid devel- 
 opment of this section of country, 
 to-wit : The Milan Canal, and the 
 Mad lliver and the Monroeville and 
 Sandusky Railroads. The first of these, 
 for some years attracted the greatest 
 amount of interior trade, some idea of 
 which may be formed when it is stat- 
 ed that from 1842 to 18.j0, iSlilan was 
 the chief market for 10 or 12 Counties, 
 while it drew grain from south of Co- 
 lumbus. At one time, it was 
 
 THE SECOND PKIMAKY GRAIN MARKET 
 
 in the world — Massillon, Ohio, being 
 the first, and Odessa, on the Black Sea, 
 the third. In one week, 98,000 bushels 
 of wheat was received there from 
 teams. The Monroeville & Sandusky 
 Railroad, when extended south to 
 Mansfield and Mt. Vernon, became a 
 strong competitor with the Canal. In 
 1850 the Cleveland & Columbus Road 
 cut into Milan's trade on the south- 
 east; and in 1853 the Cleveland & To- 
 
 ledo Road contributed to the final de- 
 struction of the traffic on which Mi- 
 lan had so long confidently trusted for 
 permanent growth and prosperity. In 
 due time the Canal was abandoned, 
 and its tow-path is now the bed of a 
 Railway track. Sandusky, by virtue 
 of being a terminus for two Railroads, ' 
 has been able largely to maintain its 
 importance as a shipping point; but 
 aside from that one, the harbors of 
 the Fire Lands, as the result of Rail- 
 way competition, have substantially 
 lost their connnercial importance. In 
 itself considered, this is to be regret- 
 ted; but when viewed in connection 
 with the cause of such deterioration, 
 the case appears differently. 
 
 SUGGESTIVE CONTRASTS. 
 
 I liave no means of stating the rates 
 of transportation between this section 
 and the sea-board earlier than 1840. 
 The average market prices for pro- 
 duce at Milan from that date to 1846, 
 inclusive, were — wheat, 70c ; corn, 32c ; 
 flour, 13.50. The rates at New York, 
 for the same period, were, wheat $1.10 ; 
 corn 70c; flour |5.50. The difference 
 between the two points, shows the 
 cost of getting the property from the 
 one to the other. This cost will be 
 more readily seen from the following 
 table which also shows the present 
 cost of transportation for the same 
 articles, to-wit: 
 
 COST OF TRANSPORTATION TO NEW 
 YORK. 
 
 Decrease. 
 
 1843-47 
 
 1879. 
 
 Wheat per bu. $0.45. $0.06'^ .$0.:^s,\'-8G per ct. 
 (.orn " .40. .06 .84 -85 " 
 
 Flour per bbl. 2.0U. .24 1.76 -88 
 
 A statement showing the average 
 market prices of wheat and corn in 
 New York and Ohio, in 1840-46, as 
 compared with the same in 1879, will 
 
still more clearly explain the matter, 
 as follows : 
 
 1840-46 
 Ohio. New York Difference. 
 
 Wheat, $0.60 
 Corn, .20 
 
 $1.10 
 •62 >3 
 
 $0.60 
 A2y, 
 
 1879. 
 
 
 
 Ohio. 
 Wheat, ?l,t8>i 
 Corn, .38 
 
 New York 
 
 $1.20 
 .43 
 
 Difference. 
 
 $0.06>i 
 .05 
 
 It is thus seen, that with an advant- 
 age of 10 cents in New York on wheat, 
 it is now worth 533^^ cents more in 
 Ohio than at the former period ; while 
 in the face of a decline of 19% cents 
 on corn in New York, there is in Ohio 
 an actual advance of 18 cents, 
 showing a comparative gain to the 
 producer, as the result of cheaper 
 transportation, of Sl}4 cents, or near- 
 ly twice the price in Ohio in 1840-46. 
 The practical effect of this changed 
 condition, is seen in the fact, that 
 while formerly it took 2}^ bushels of 
 Ohio corn to get one bushel to market, 
 now one bushel will market 1}4 bush- 
 els, making a difference of 16 to 1 in 
 favor of the Ohio farmer. In 1846, 
 Illinois corn was used for fuel, for the 
 reason that it would not pay freight 
 and charges to market ; whereas, now 
 the difference between the value of 
 corn in central Illinois and New York, 
 is not over 9 cents, it being worth in 
 the former section 34 cents, against 43 
 cents at the seaboard. As so many of 
 you will remember, the one great 
 drawback in the past to coming West 
 and taking cheap farm lands, was the 
 fact, that as the lands became cheap 
 the cost of transportation increased, 
 and the market value of produce de- 
 creased accordingly. Thus, in 1840-46 
 the Connecticut farmer received 50 cts, 
 more for his corn, than did the Oliio 
 producer. But matters are now chang- 
 ed, and the difference is but 4 cents, 
 being a comparative gain to the Oliio 
 
 grower of 46 cents per bushel ; while 
 the like gain to the Illinois farmer has 
 been 40 cents. 
 
 Again, the average cost for trans- 
 porting a bushel of wheat from Ohio 
 to Liverpool in 1840-46, was 75 cents. 
 Now it is only 15 cents, or one-fifth 
 the former ratio. To illustrate the fi- 
 nancial effect of this change, it may 
 be stated, that the additional value 
 thereby given to a single bushel of this 
 grain in the hands of the producer^ 
 would now purchase 8 yards of good 
 prints, 20 pounds of nails, 4 gallons of 
 coal oil, 5 pounds of granulated sugar, 
 or 2J4 pounds of Rio coffee; while the 
 gain on 5 bushels would pay for all 
 these. By figuring on his crop, the 
 farmer will get some idea of what im- 
 provements in the means of transpor- 
 tation have done for him. Thus, his 
 gain on each acre of 60 bushels of 
 corn, is $30, or $21 more than the 
 former entire value of the crop. There 
 was received at Milan in one day ia 
 1847, 18,500 bushels of wheat, all from 
 teams, on which the cost for transpor- 
 tation to New York was $7,400; and 
 to Liverpool $13,875. The present cost 
 of marketing that day's receipts, would 
 be $925 to New York, and $2,375 to 
 Liverpool — making a difference, with 
 the producers, of $0,475 in the former, 
 and $11,500 in the latter case. It is 
 within the recollection of some of mj 
 hearers, that a portion of the wheat 
 sold at Milan at 60 cents per bushel, 
 was hauled by the j>roducers from 
 Franklin County— a distance of 100 
 miles — paying $24 per load of 40 bush- 
 els for raising the grain and a week's 
 time in getting it to market. The es- 
 timated cost of moving freight by 
 teams on common roads, is 15 cents 
 per ton per mile. This would make 
 the price for transporting the Frank- 
 
lO 
 
 lin County wheat {i}4 tons to the load) 
 $18.00, leaving the farmer $(5.00 for his 
 homeward trip, but nothing for rais- 
 ing the grain. As a result of reduced 
 cost of transportation to the seaboard, 
 his load could now be marketed, at 
 honw, at $44.00, nearly all of which 
 would go to his farm account, instead 
 of nothing, as in the former case ; and 
 the difference in his favor on each 
 acre of 2.5 bushels, would be $27.50, of 
 which sum $24.75 would be due to 
 cheaper transportation. Our export 
 of wheat, corn and flour, (reducing 
 flour to bushels) for the past year, is 
 placed at 300,000,000 bushels. The 
 ocean freight on this was about 10 
 cents per bushel, or $30,000,000, against 
 $182,000,000. the cost at rates of 35 
 years ago — making a gain to the pro- 
 ducers of the snug sum of $152,000,000. 
 But for the extraordinary reduction in 
 internal and ocean rates of transporta- 
 tion, however, there could have been 
 no such supply of grain; nor could it 
 have been marketed, had it been pro- 
 duced. In such case, except with un- 
 usual scarcity in competing countries, 
 the European markets would have 
 continued to be virtually closed to our 
 producers. And yet, we now virtually 
 command that trade, at rates which 
 give to the Ohio farmer within 15 
 cents of the European market prices. 
 Thus it is, chiefly, that we have been 
 enabled to create and maintain a bal- 
 ance of trade in our favor beyond any- 
 thing known to other Xations, Eng- 
 land, in some instances, only excepted. 
 The amount of this favorable balance 
 is about that of our grain export. 
 
 Intimately connected with this mat- 
 ter, is another which should not be 
 over looked. I refer to the recent ex- 
 traordinary improvements in agricul- 
 tural machinery and apidiances, with- 
 
 out which the present production 
 would be impossible In no other 
 branch of industry, has there been 
 greater change. Many of my hearers, 
 better than I, appreciate this fact. 
 They will recall the time when the 
 plough, the drag, the scythe, the cra- 
 dle, the hand-rake and the hoe consti- 
 tuted the farmer's stock of imple- 
 ments; while some remember the day 
 when the hand-sickle was used in cut- 
 ting grain. How great the change, 
 wrought by the drill, the planter, the 
 cultivator, the mower, the horse-rake, 
 the reaper and binder, and other labor- 
 saving and crop-saving inventions of 
 the present time. But for some of 
 these, the present crops, though grown, 
 could not be harvested. And for these, 
 almost wholly, we are indebted to 
 American genius, skill and enterprise, 
 since foreign nations depend no more 
 upon us for their breadstuffs, than for 
 their agricultural appliances. 
 
 It cannot be denied, that the present 
 low rates for transportation are large- 
 ly due to a degree of competition be- 
 tween Railways and the water routes 
 and between the Railways themselves, 
 which may not hereafter be fully 
 maintained. But it is also true, that 
 as a result of such competition, the 
 actual cost of transportation is con- 
 stantly being reduced, which in a 
 great measure makes up to capital 
 profits which otherwise would not be 
 possible. This view is justified by facts 
 known to all. In 1840, Mr. Charles 
 Ellet, Jr., Chief Engineer of the James 
 River & Kanawha Canal and Rail- 
 road, stated the reasonable charge for 
 rail transportation at 2J^ cents per 
 ton per mile; whereas, grain is now 
 being taken from the West to the sea- 
 board at }4 of one cent per ton per 
 mile--being 1-10 of the price named. 
 
11 
 
 by Mr. Ellet. This low rate is the re- 
 sult, in a measure, of undue Railway 
 construction and consequent excessive 
 competition ; but chiefly to economical 
 operation of Railways, not dreamed 
 of by Mr. Ellet, which influence must 
 continue to be felt in favor of reduc- 
 ed rates. 
 
 My fellow-citizens, it has appeared 
 to me as quite proper, and I trust 
 profitable, in this recurrence of our 
 Nation's birth-day, thus briefly to take 
 note of the material progress made by 
 us as a people. This seems to be spe- 
 cially true, in meeting, as many of you 
 now do, to commemorate the enter- 
 prise, labors, trials and successes of 
 the pioneers of this section. From 
 such comparisons of the present with 
 the past, we all may draw lessons of 
 contentment and of gratitude to the 
 gracious Providence by which the 
 
 fathers and mothers were permitted 
 to provide, and their sons and daugh- 
 ters to enjoy, such munificent bless- 
 ings. What a rebuke should be the 
 contemplation of this grateful topic, 
 to the spirit of discontent and unrest 
 so frequently manifested of late ! If a 
 people in the enjoyment of all these 
 manifold and increasing mercies, can- 
 not be content to accept them in the 
 exercise of reason and thankfulness, 
 what but the just reward of the prod- 
 igal and the ingrate, can be expected 
 for them ? I am sure, that you need 
 no appeal or admonition from me. But 
 I would suggest that all of us, in our 
 respective places, may seek to do 
 something toward a more just appre- 
 ciation of the distinguished mercies 
 which God has vouchsafed to our 
 country, and the repression of the 
 tendency to untimely agitation and 
 disaffection shown in some quarters. 
 
/ 
 
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