Description: Photomechanical reproduction of a portrait of John Dole, an employee of the Anti-Slavery League. Dole was first located at Cairo, Illinois, then at Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana. He superintended logging camps in Kentucky and ran off slaves through Indiana. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03024
Subjects: Siebert, Wilbur Henry, 1866-1961; Abolitionists--Illinois--History--19th century; Anti-Slavery League
Places: Evansville (Indiana); Vanderburgh County (Indiana)
 

Description: This photograph shows an abandoned canal lock and an overgrown canal bed near Grand Rapids, Ohio. A railroad trestle spans the canal bed. The unidentified lock may be Lock No. 44, now located within the boundaries of Providence Metro Park (across the Maumee River from Grand Rapids). Lock No. 44 was part of the Miami, Wabash and Erie Canal system. The Miami and Erie Canal, which connected Toledo to Cincinnati, joined the Wabash and Erie Canal, which linked Toledo to Evansville, Indiana. The conjoined canals diverged at Junction, Ohio. The Miami and Erie Canal was one of Ohio's most important canals during the mid-nineteenth century. During the late 1810s, Governor Thomas Worthington and Governor Ethan Allen Brown both supported the development of canals. Both men believed that Ohioans needed quick and easy access to the Ohio River and to Lake Erie if they were to profit financially. Farmers and business owners would be able to transport their products much more easily and cheaply with canals rather than turnpikes. Canals would also possibly open up new markets for Ohio goods. In 1822 the Ohio legislature created a new Ohio Canal Commission, which eventually recommended two routes: a western route along the Miami and Maumee Valleys (Miami and Erie Canal) and an eastern route that started at Lake Erie, passing through the Cuyahoga Valley, the Muskingum Valley, the Licking Valley, and then to the Ohio River along the Scioto Valley (Ohio and Erie Canal). In 1825 the Ohio legislature approved both routes, and work began immediately on the Miami and Erie Canal. The 250-mile-long canal was completed in 1845. On February 22, 1832, construction of the Wabash and Erie Canal started in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Once completed, it would connect Toledo, Ohio, and Evansville, Indiana. The Wabash and Erie Canal intersected with the Miami and Erie Canal at the town of Junction, Ohio. From Junction the canals proceeded as one to Defiance, Toledo, and Lake Erie. Most canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s. By the 1850s canals were losing business to the railroads, which offered several advantages. Railroads delivered passengers and goods more quickly, and they were not limited by a water source as canals were. Because of these advantages, railroads quickly supplanted the canals. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06114
Subjects: Wabash and Erie Canal (Ind. and Ohio); Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio); Canals--Ohio--History--19th century; Grand Rapids (Ohio); Wood County (Ohio); Transportation--Ohio--History;
Places: Grand Rapids (Ohio); Wood County (Ohio)
 

Description: Parke Davis Patton was born February 15, 1923 in Columbus, Ohio to Charles and Jesse Davis Patton. He served as a pharmacist’s mate, second class, in the United States Navy during World War II. During the war, an Evansville, Indiana shipyard produced Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs), which supported the war effort by transporting men and material around the world. The Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Company completed the LST 577 on May 3, 1944. It was launched on June 16, 1944, and was commissioned July 10, 1944. During the morning of February 11, 1945, the LST 577 was part of a convoy formation of ships east of Mindinano, Philippine Islands. The convoy was on a resupply run to Lingayen Gulf, Leyte and was approaching the point of rendezvous with other ships. As a result of the foggy, drizzling weather that morning, the crew had been allowed to sleep in. At approximately 9:05 a.m., two torpedoes from the Japanese submarine R050 passed through the convoy from port to starboard and struck the LST 577, at convoy position Number 21, on the port quarter. The explosion occurred just aft of the auxiliary engine room and broke the ship in two. The entire forward section of the ship aft frame sank immediately, because the main engines and superstructure were located in and on the back half of the ship. The forward section remained afloat. Over 166 Navy and Army personnel, including Patton, lost their lives. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS1258AV
Subjects: United States Navy; World War II; Military Ohio; Soldiers--Ohio;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image is a photograph of an engraved illustration of the Miami River Canal, which was a section of the larger Miami and Erie Canal system completed in 1830. The image is of the Dayton aqueduct crossing, ca. 1842. Aqueducts were constructed to transport waters of the Miami and Erie Canal over rivers and streams. New York's Erie Canal, completed in 1825, dramatically altered life in Ohio. Thousands of settlers utilized the canal to move to Ohio. Cities in northern Ohio, especially Cleveland and Toledo, grew quickly and became important ports. Farmers and industrialists in northern Ohio now had a relatively cheap and quick means of transporting their products to market. The success of the Erie Canal also prompted the Ohio government to invest in canals within Ohio, most notably the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal, both of which connected Lake Erie with the Ohio River. Constructed in stages between 1825 and 1845, the Miami and Erie Canal linked Lake Erie (at Toledo) to the Ohio River (at Cincinnati). At Junction, Ohio, the Miami and Erie Canal intersected with the Wabash and Erie Canal, which provided a link to Evansville, Indiana. The canal system greatly reduced the cost of transporting products and people. The cost of shipping goods from the East Coast to Ohio and vice versa dripped from $125 per ton of goods to $25 per ton. It took eighty hours to travel from Cleveland to Portsmouth along the Ohio and Erie Canal. Although travel on horseback was much faster, it also cost a great deal more. Passage on the canal boat was $1.70 per person. Most canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s. By the 1850s, however, canals were losing business to the railroads, which offered several advantages over the canals. Although railroads cost more to ship people and goods, they could deliver people and items much more quickly than the canals. Railroads also were not limited by a water source, as were canals. Because of these advantages, railroads quickly supplanted the canals. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06117
Subjects: Canals--Ohio--History--19th century; Miami Canal (Ohio); Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio)--History; Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio); Miami Canal (Ohio); Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)