Description: This photograph depicts a flame blowing through a Bessemer converter located in Indiana Harbor, Indiana. Bessemer converters release oxygen gas through molten iron, which reacts with carbon and and other impurities to increase the quality of the steel, as well as producing a large flame. This photograph belongs to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Audiovisual Archives, so its subject is likely located at a Youngstown plant. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AC2_YHCIL_MSS0140_B01F09_009
Subjects: Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Indiana Harbor; Bessemer furnace; Steel industry
Places: East Chicago (Indiana); Lake County (Indiana)
 

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)
 

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: Reverse reads: "Lake freighter S.T. Crapo on the Maumee River. (Close-up)" This is a photograph of the S.T. Crapo freighter on the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. The photo is taken from the water and shows the front and side of the freighter. The Maumee River forms in Fort Wayne, Indiana and continues to flow into the Maumee Bay of Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F11_031_001
Subjects: Maumee River (Ind. and Ohio); Cargo Ships; Cityscape photography; Toledo (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Central business districts--Ohio--Toledo; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project.
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads: "Maumee River looking S.W. from Middleground" Steamers: Steelton of Wilmington Robert A. Paisley of Wilmington The Maumee River begins in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the confluence of the St. Marys and the St. Joseph Rivers and eventually flows into Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio. It is approximately 130 miles long, with almost four thousand miles of streams, creeks, and rivers emptying into the Maumee River. The Maumee also has the largest watershed of any river flowing into a Great Lake. Photo taken in late 1930s by the Works Progress Administration View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F12_011_001
Subjects: Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project--Works Progress Administration in Ohio--Industry--River--
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company's Indiana Harbor Works standing on the shores of Lake Michigan in East Chicago, Indiana, ca. 1920-1929. James A. Campbell purchased the Indiana Harbor Works in 1923 as part of an expansion of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. In 1930, Campbell would use Indiana Harbor as a bargaining tool during the merger talks with Bethlehem Steel, emphasizing the Midwest market that Bethlehem Steel would have access to through the Indiana Harbor Works. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05580
Subjects: Steel industry and trade--Indiana; Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company; Ohio Economy--Economy--Business
Places: East Chicago (Indiana); Youngstown (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio)
 

Description: Canal plat map showing a section of the route of the Miami and Erie Canal in Miami County through Troy, Ohio, between stations 8244 and 8312. The Ohio, Indiana and Western Railroad, the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, bridges, and other landmarks along the route and throughout the town are also noted. The map was created under the direction of the members of the Canal Commission of the state of Ohio and approved by the Chief Engineer of the Department of Public Works (variously referred to as the Board of Public Works and the Division of Public Works). Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal took place between 1825 and 1845, and the finished route connected Cincinnati and Toledo, as well as the Ohio River with Lake Erie. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: BV4927_006
Subjects: Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio); Transportation; Canals -- Ohio; Railroads--Ohio
Places: Troy (Ohio); Miami County (Ohio)