Lock #10: (
Satellite, approximate)
"The Cascade Locks were part of the canal system that transformed Ohio from a primitive wilderness into the third most populous state in the union." The gradient of 70' (21m) in less than half a mile provided water power. [
uakron] And the canal provided transportation of raw materials to the factories and of products to the markets.
The locks were built 1926-27. [
hmdb]
Lock #14 is in the foreground, and Lock #13 is under the steel girder B&O bridge.
In this view we are looking at Lock #12 and the other side of the B&O bridge.
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uakron
"Looking south upstream from Lock 12 in the Cascade Locks. The wooden gates at the ends of the locks were washed out during the 1913 flood."
The locks were 90'(27.4m) x 15'(4.5m). |
This would be Lock #11. I think this predecessor trestle was a little further downstream than
today's trestle.
Lock #14 shows that vegetation control is a real problem. Some views were much more overgrown than this.
Looking North from North Street, we see the remnants of a basin that served an industry and Lock #15 on a bend to the left under the trees. There was a basin between each lock that allowed boats travelling in opposite directions to pass. Most of them have filled in.
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hmdb
How Can Water Going Down Make A Boat Go Up?
The Cascade Valley is the steepest section of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The elevation changes 150 feet within a mile. This provided an advantage for the Cascade Race, but a challenge for the Ohio & Erie Canal. The Cascade Race needed the elevation difference to give the water the pressure needed to turn water wheels. The canal relied on flat waters so that boats could be pulled by mules upstream as well as downstream. Sixteen locks allow canal boats to negotiate the valley's elevation change. You are standing at Lock 14. Locks are hydraulic elevators enclosed at each end by a pair of wooden gates. By filling or draining a lock a boat would be raised or lowered through elevation changes. This series of drawings shows how a lock works to lower a canal boat. The boat is brought into the lock and the upstream wooden gates close behind it. The small sluice gates on the downstream wooden gates would then be opened. This allows the lock to drain, lowering the boat. Once the water level lowers, the downstream wooden gates would be opened to let the boat continue on its way. |
Mustill Store
Next to Lock #15 is the restored Mustill Store.
This is THE CASCADE VALLEY side of the above marker.
The Ohio & Erie Canal was completed from Cleveland to Akron in 1827. From the Mustill Site, the canal rose 15 locks to the summit in Akron. The “Cascade Mill Race,” built by Dr. Eliakim Crosby in 1832, paralleled the canal, creating a large manufacturing center of mills that derived water power from the Little Cuyahoga River. The canal carried products north to Lake Erie or south to the Ohio River reaching worldwide ports. In March 1913 flood ended canal operations in this area.
The Mustill house and store are survivors of Akron’s canal era and date to the 1840s. Joseph and Sarah Mustill moved their family from England to Akron in 1833 and owned the store and Greek Revival house at Lock 15 on the Ohio & Erie Canal. Three generations of Mustills lived and worked the grocery business at Lock 15. first Joseph and Sarah, then son Fred with his wife Emma, and their children Maria, Frederick, Edwin and Franklin. A popular place to buy or barter goods, the store served canallers, farmers, craftsmen, and neighbors for many years.
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uakron
"Schoolchildren visiting the restored Mustill Store listen to “Fred and Emma Mustill,” played by Rosemary Reymann and Bill Van Nostran, volunteers of Cascade Locks Park Association. The store interior is now a museum created by the National Park Service and operated by the Cascade Locks Park Association." |
The satellite locations for Lock #10 and #11 are approximate because a lot of houses and streets have been removed from that area. This map taught me that the marking of lock locations on a topo map can be very inaccurate.
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| 1903/61 Akron @ 62,500 |
This also shows how there were houses a lot closer to the canal than we see today. The bridge with the horse&buggy near the lower-left corner would have been North Street. The lock in the center foreground was Lock #15. Note that the Mustill Store was next to it.
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| Digitally Zoomed |
This video focuses on the Irish immigrants that dug the canal with hand tools.
This is Lock #15. He walks up along the canal to
Lock #2.
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