Scenes and Events Recalled in Logan by Oldest Citizens
Logan residents recall Civil War era canal boats and Morgan raiders. The Virginia was burned at Nelsonville, rebuilt as Ashford, and other vessels like Eagle, Statesman, Twins, and Madam Roland are noted along the canal and rivers. Memories cover Haydenville, Perry county, Starr Township, and Wolfe's Basin as the Hocking river channel shifted with the canal.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Virginia
Morgan
Nelsonville
Snow Fork
Perry County
Starr Township
Logan
Starr
Ashford
Mart Pritchard
John Ruff
Statesman
Second Street
Twins
Killian Johnson
Lancaster
George Cook
Noah Cook
Denny
Hartman
Haydenville
State Boats and Bridges Mark Canal Operations
The canal needed constant upkeep as swampy water made navigation difficult along the Carroll side cut. State boat crews, led by Thomas St Leger and later Andrew McKinney, towed boats with block and tackle while dredge bosses and captains managed the operations. Bridges, many open or covered with one notable mulberry street crossing, connected a lengthy canal system, with contractors Mike Krieg and Mike Risley on the Mulberry bridge and a near tragedy recalled when a bridge section shifted as snow covered shingles. The canal fed coal and clay shipments from Haydenville, near Homer Steirs farm, and logs of other drawbridges map the waterway’s span.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Carroll
Thomas St. Leger
Andrew McKinney
Dennis McCarty
John Fitzgerald
Mulberry Street
Rochester Warehouse
Mike Krieg
Mike Risley
Ben Kittsmiller
George Risley
Homer Steirs
Haydenville
Haydenville Manufacturing and Mining Company
Poling
Ogden
Logan
Paul Fox
Hunter Street
Gallagher
Hocking Valley Depot
Canal Memories of Naile Noonan and Early Boat Life
Anecdotes about Charles Naile and Denny Noonan, old-time canal boatmen, recall waking to cries of low bridge as they slept in public spots. Floods in 1873 and 1884 damaged the canal near Falls Mill, affecting traffic, while locktending at Falls Mill supported workers and notable catches. Mayor J P Rochester recalls a 24 hour Amazon trip to Lancaster aboard Mark Powers commanded boat. Boats north to Cleveland required multiple teams with a mid canal stable for changing horses.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Charles Naile
Denny Noonan
Falls Mill
Logan
James Hannifee
Hocking Valley
J. P. Rochester
Lancaster
Amazon
Mark Powers
Cleveland
North Branch
Ohio Canal
Canal used to transport soldiers from Hocking county
The canal served in Mexican and Civil Wars ferrying troops from Hocking county to Athena, Lancaster, and Columbus. Charles W. James recalls boys at Main Street wharf watching 80 men join the second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Captain Worthington led the company with Tucker as lieutenant. Meals were included in boat fare and food was plentiful. Wilson Moore recalls boyhood rides between Haydenville and Logan amid this history.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hocking County
Athena
Lancaster
Columbus
Charles W. James
Main Street
Ohio Volunter Infantry
Thomas Worthington
Simeon Tucker
Abram Seifert
Worthington
Tucker
Wilson P. Moore
Haydenville
Logan
Tragedy in East Clayton canal scene man dies in fight
Tatman foreman of a labor gang intervened in a gang fight near the canal at East Clayton. He was struck on the head with a shovel and died from a fractured skull. Rivalries and heavy whisky use marked the period as old canal life and local charcoal trade shaped the region. Henry Troxel of Rockbridge is noted for saving $300 at age 21 from canal work.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Clayton
Tatman
Joe Kittsmiller
Gan
Hocking County
Rocky Fork
Rockbridge
Henry Troxel
Hocking Valley
Sunken cargo yields fortune after clever salvage tale
Near Rockbridge a flour cargo sank when a boat struck Nigger lock. Troxel bought the sunken boat for 300 dollars, raised it, and the flour later sold for 3000 dollars in Cleveland. The windfall funded a large farm estate for the Troxel family. An 1868 incident saw Isiah Frasure narrowly saved from drowning after logs in a mill race broke apart.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rockbridge
Nigger” Lock
Young Troxel
Troxel
Cleveland
Isiah Frasure
Frasure
Mary Frasure
Cook House
Andy McKinney
Floodwood
Flandwood
Lewis Blosser
Ghost and Canal Tales From Lonename Woods Era
A journal of canal boat lore recalls a night drive near Lonename Woods where a supposed ghost turned out to be a crewman in disguise who was soundly thrashed by driver Jason Jones. The piece also notes Logan’s early boat history with Captain Mark Powers, a walnut gunwale boat, and a street chase ending with William Ramsey seeking refuge after a rock was hurled.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Akron
Lonename Woods
Jason Jones
Jones
Charles Good
Ford Remple
Samuel
Logan
Ford
Remple
Mark Powers
Amazon
Lancaster
William Ramsey
Ramsey
Powers
Drowning at Boardman's Lock Recall in Canal Tales
Tragic recollections include John Cash who drowned crossing a lock gate at Boardman’s lock south of Logan. The tale notes a horse stolen from a towline near Cleveland, a boat sunk near Enterprise, two distilleries on The Plains, and Irish workers who vanished after canal completion. Frank Kientz of Glouster is mentioned as a passenger.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
John Cash
Cash
Boardman’s Lock
Logan
T. Cash
Cleveland
Fletch Wilson
West
Jake Lehman
Ohio
Enterprise
Plains
Wilson Moore
America
Frank Kientz
Glouster
Boatman’s Midwest Journey Through Hocking Canal Past Rural Columbus
The narrative recalls a fleet boat traveler on the Hocking canal with a home in Columbus near Broad Street. It notes downtown Columbus then being largely farmland, reflecting a rural cityscape of the era.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Hocking Canal
Columbus
Broad Street
Salt wells and Civil War memories along the O Connell voyage
Mrs Lydia Westenhaver recalls being a frequent passenger on the O Connell as a girl, describing salt wells on the Dougherty farm and a primitive boiling method with blood or milk. She also recalls Morgan’s raiders in Starr and Nelson ville, a store guard, and Nelson’s smallpox ruse. Cholera fears in Logan and canal tolls history with J D Kentner and Maggie Case.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
John Westenhaver, Jr
O'Connell
John Westenhaver
Lydia Westenhaver
John Dougherty
Westenhaver
Starr
Morgan
Nelsonville
Nelson
Logan
J. D. Kentner
Spring Street
Maggie Case
Kentner
Dave Miller
Deaths and brawls among canal workers recounted
Story recalls frequent worker deaths during canal construction. William Wolfe and a companion once buried a corpse after losing the coffin on a hill, then misled by a passing wagon. The article also remembers Than Matheny provoking bar-room quarrels and ducking four men in the canal, amid ongoing canal-era fights.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
William Wolfe
Wolfe
Somerset
Matheny
Lancaster
Canal
Page
Canals Begun by Private Capital Purchased by State
The narrative recalls Ohio canal beginnings with a 1825 act marking the start of canal construction. It notes a July 4, 1825 ceremony near Newark with Gov Clinton and Gov Morrow, and the Akron to Cleveland segment opening in 1827. That year ferried boats from Cincinnati to Middletown on the Miami and Erie canal moved at about three miles per hour, highlighting statewide interest comparable to future railways.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ohio
Ohio Canal
Licking County
Newark
Clinton
New York
Morrow
Thomas Ewing
Akron
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Middletown
Miami and Erie
Prices of Farm Products Rose with Canal Progress
The canal project boosted state life and farm income. Wheat rose from 25 cents to 1 dollar per bushel, corn from 12 1 2 to three times higher, oats from 10 cents to substantial gains, and potatoes to 50 cents as the canal system expanded from Akron to Cleveland. Wages for canal labor started at thirty cents a day plus board, rising with prices as construction continued. The piece reflects on canals as human-made extensions of nature and traces early canal history in Egypt and China, noting gravity and level challenges, sluices, and early methods of boat movement.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Akron
Cleveland
Egypt
China
Also Mentioned on This Page
Reed
C. Pierce
Hutchins
Joe L. Hutchins
Wolfe's Basin
Hocking River
East Clayton
Ghost
Athens Messenger
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