People of Ohio

is light. Articles are carried on horseback; heavy ones by a coarse sledge, a cart, or wagon. The smaller implements are the axe, the pickaxe, and the cradle, scytheby far the most commendable backwoods apparatus."

The grain cradle is described at great length by this traveler, in that it is a valuable implement. In his travels through Pennsylvania he did not see it, and so was inclined to the opinion that it is an Ohio implement. In 1820 there were not half a dozen points in Ohio where wheat could be sold for cash; and corn and rye could not be sold as a commodity at all.

So it was converted into whiskey, and during the period of 1820 to 1826 a large amount of corn and rye was made into this beverage. The trouble was, no outlet for the agricultural products. People knew they could dispose of the surplus if they had markets, and as the completion of the Erie canal approached, strangers having heard of the haven land here, poured into the state. Many coming from old states where agriculture had been better developed, brought with them experience and knowledge, in

dustry, frugality, and perseverence. From People 1826 to 1836 large numbers immigrated to of Ohio this state. Almost every one purchased a farm, of from sixty to one hundred and sixty acres. In the hands of this later class of immigrants the resources of the state very rapidly developed.

From the very first opening of the state to settlers there was continual inflowing of immigrants. Josiah Espy1 in his observations through the state in 1805, says, "The people of Ohio have come from nearly every state in the union, but chiefly from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and during the present year I have good reason to conclude that from twenty to thirty thousand souls have entered the state for the purpose of making it their future residence. At the present time the inhabitants of the state of Ohio, being so lately collected from all states, have as yet, obtained no national character.

"In traveling through this immense and beautiful country, one idea, mingled with melancholy emotions, almost continually

1 Ohio Valley Historical Collection, page 23.

People of Ohio

presented itself to my mind, which was this: That for many years the people of that great tract of country would separate themselves from the Atlantic states and establish an independent empire. The peculiar situation of the country and the nature of the men will gradually lead to this crisis."

What a mistake the observer made. Along with the industry, knowledge, religion, which the early settlers brought with them was government and patriotism. Where have you found a more lawabiding people; what primitive citizenship, more conservative and conscientious; or a mission filled better than by the pioneer settler of Ohio. What state can show a record so clear, or a galaxy of names so lustrous in defense of that union which our observer had thought Ohio able to destroy.

The patriotism of her brave men, the loyalty of her women, worthy descendants of noble pioneers, is to-day proverbial.

1 Ryan-A History of Ohio, Ohio in War, page 162.

52

CHAPTER IV

CANALS, RAILROADS, AND TURNPIKES

Internal improvements did not begin in Ohio at a very early date. Before 1832 there was no means of transportation, excepting a national road and ships on the northern and southern borders, rafts on the rivers, and the rude ox- and horse-carts, over impassable, unmade roads. With this state of affairs it could not be expected there would be much or any advance in agriculture. Livestock could be driven to market though very unsatisfactorily; but wheat, corn, and other products could not receive any improvement and development when they could not be taken to market, no matter how much they were in demand there. With the opening of the Erie canal the first real and strong impulse was given to the agriculture of the state. Even before its completion the realization had come to all that progress was now certain. Ohio with her splendid climate and fertile soil could furnish abundance to the country if only

Canals, Railroads, and Turnpikes

means were provided for transporting it. That realization came in 1832, and then our agriculture proper began. The history of the transportation in the state is divided by the course of events into three periods. From the time of the first settlement until the completion of the Ohio canal in 1832, during which there were no artificial ways to facilitate the transportation of the farm products of the state, is the first.

The second period, from 1832 to 1852, was distinguished by the National road, extending from Cumberland city, Maryland, to Zanesville. The remarkable prosperity arising from the eight hundred miles of canals in the state, and ultimately the introduction of railroads and their ascendency as a means of transportation in 1852, when they had accomplished through lines from the leading cities of the state to the great commercial cities of the East.

From 1852 to the present time railroad transportation has been a large factor in the prosperity of Ohio, and may be properly considered the third period.

During the first period the principal means of communication between Ohio and