"Crosby's Ditch," Old Stone Mill, Quaker Oats and Cascade Race

Diversion Dam: (Satellite)

Old Stone Mill: (Satellite)

uakron
In 1832, Dr. Crosby completed his Old Stone Mill at Lock #5. As part of that construction, he built a diversion dam on the Little Cuyahoga River and a mill race (Crosby's Ditch) along the river and then south on Main Street and west on Mill Street to his mill.

I added a red line near the lower-right corner where the river was close to the 1000' contour line to show about where I think the diversion dam was. Note that the river bent south back then. The dam was located near today's Goodyear Headquarters. The mill race would have gone below the 1000' contour line to the north and then west. That area would have been wilderness in 1832 so he didn't have to worry about streets or houses being in the way. Because of 8th Ave. and the railroad tracks near the dam, I think it was about here. The yellow circle near the upper-left corner on this topo map marks the location of the mill. The mill was south of the intersection of Ash and Mill Streets and just east of Lock #5.

1903 Akron and 1906 Kent Quads @ 62,500 plus Paint

Note that the mill became the F. Schumacher Mill.

Locks 3-14 via RailsAndTrails

He was known as The Oatmeal King. He was born in Germany and introduced America to oatmeal. He kept building bigger mills, and his company became part of Quaker Oats. The mill buildings at Mill Street and Broadway were the last mill he built. Quaker Oats moved out of Akron in 1970. [wikitree]

ebay

If you access the Locks 3-14 reference, you can see how millraces were built along the Ohio & Erie Canal to harness the power of Dr. Crosby's water as the water continued to flow along the Cascade Locks. This was called the Cascade Race.

On the way down the Cascade Race, the water " turned the water wheels of several flour mills, a woolen mill, a furniture factory, five iron furnaces, a distillery, and other early Akron industries." [uakron]

This video talks about the Cascade Race starting at this screenshot.

34:51 video @ 3:10

For future research. This is the beginning of a tunnel that ends just below Lock #15.

34:51 video @ 4:18