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Located approximately
8-miles north of Portsmouth on State Route 104 the Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail has established a pull off at the former location
of South Lock 48 of the old Ohio and Erie Canal.
The pull off affords
travelers the chance to get out of their vehicle and stretch their legs and get a closer look at the remnants of the old canal
lock that once bustled with activity as canal boats loaded with goods and passengers traveled along the canal.
Construction of the
canal began on July 4, 1825 with a ground breaking at Licking Summit near Newark, Ohio.
The canal was dug using basic hand tools and lots
of backbreaking labor.
The Cleveland to Akron connection was completed by 1827 and the connection all the way to Portsmouth completed by 1832.
The
entire canal system was 308 miles long with 146 lift locks and a rise of 1,206 feet.
In addition, there were five feeder canals that added 24.8 miles and 6 additional
locks to the system consisting of the Tuscarawas Feeder (3.2 miles), Walhonding Feeder (1.3 miles), Granville Feeder (6.1
miles), Muskinghum Side Cut (2.6 miles) and the Columbus Feeder (11.6 miles).
It was estimated that
the total cost to construct the Ohio and Erie Canal would be $2.3-million and the companion Miami and Erie Canal would be
$2.9-million however, the total cost to construct both was $41-million.
The State of Ohio borrowed money from bankers and east
coast businessman to pay for the construction of the canal with $25-million of the total cost of the canal going to pay interest
on the loans.
A series of locks
along the canal route, such as Lock 48, were used to raise and lower the canal boats in order for them to transverse the various
elevations along the canal.
Each lock was numbered and
had a Lockkeeper who operating the lock's gates, collected the tolls and kept
records of commerce on the canal.
The lock keeper lived in a house by the lock and would be on call
24 hours a day.
Some of the locks were named
after a prominent lock keeper, a nearby town or important geographical feature.
Some locks were known by more than one name and some were only known by their number.
The lock numbering system began at Summit Lake near Akron which was the
highest point on the canal.
The numbering
system was oriented so that all the locks north of the lake where numbered as north 1,2,3…and the locks to the south
of the lake where numbered as south 1,2,3…
South Lock 48 was also known as Herod’s probably named after a one-time lock keeper.
Canal
boats had no on-board power source instead they were pulled up or down stream by teams of mules, oxen or horses.
The
animals towing the boats were led by a "hoggee" who were usually young boys working in 6-hour shifts and were paid
about $20 a month.
Each canal boat carried two sets of animals and when the animals were changed out so were the
"hoggees".
|
| Future President James Garfield at age 16 |
One
notable "hoggee" was the future President of the United States James Garfield who as a teenage worked as a "hoggee"
in 1847 but gave up the job because of repeatedly falling into the canal and becoming sick. Instead he
decided to go to college.
The path parallel to the canal on which the animals plodded along pulling the
canal boats was called the towpath.
Portions of State Route 104 were built along the former towpath and many
in the area still refer to the road as the towpath yet today.
