Diversion Dam: (
Satellite)
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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.
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| 1903 Akron and 1906 Kent Quads @ 62,500 plus Paint |
The 1000' contour line is the one crossing Main Street near Furnace Street. So the mill race headed down Main Street to Mill Street near today's
Courtyard by Marriot.
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| 1903 Akron Quad @ 62,500 |
Note that Crosby's mill became a F. Schumacher Mill.
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]
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. (I think the Cascade Race started at the tailrace of the Old Stone Mill. But this is probably the start of visible remnants of that race.)
The information stand near the center of the above view contains the historical marker: "Dynamics of Change in Cascade Locks Park." The following information is from that marker.
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hmdb
Dynamics of Change in Cascade Locks Park Marker
The caption on the photo is "Cascade Valley 1882."
Completion of the Cascade Locks provided transportation through the steepest change in elevation along the Ohio & Erie Canal. The trip through 15 locks in a single mile took up to half a day. As a result, saloons, brothels, hotels and stores like Mustill's emerged to cater to passengers during their layover. This was the beginning of the rise of Akron. The dramatic change in height also provided immense water power that led local inventors and businessmen to harness that energy through a separate waterway called the Cascade Race, which powered multiple mills along its path. Although water power gave birth to industrial growth in Akron, it did not stand as the primary source of power. Evolution to steam and then electric power continues to shape Cascade Locks Park. Throughout your journey up the Cascade Locks, look for evidence of the dynamics of change through this important piece of our past. Timeline of Cascade Locks Our industrial history and evolution of power 1826 - 1827 Construction of the Cascade Locks 1832 Cascade Race 1838 Aetna Mill 1850s Mustill House & Store 1876 Schumacher's Cascade Mills 1880 Valley Railway 1912 American Tire & Rubber 1913 Great Flood 1927 Akron Steam Heating Company |
And over by the fence along the trail in the above street view is this marker.
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hmdb
When Flour was Power Marker
The completion of the Ohio & Erie Canal triggered Akron's first economic boom in the 1830s. Paralleling the canal, the Cascade Race supplied water power to many mills, including Ferdinand Schumacher's Cascade Mills, which ground wheat into flour. Canal boats transported flour and other agricultural products north to Cleveland and south to Portsmouth. From there, other boats completed the journey to hungry markets in New York or as far south as New Orleans. Did you know here at Lock 14, the millstones in Schumacher's Cascade Mills were turned by a giant waterwheel 35 feet in diameter? As big as a Ferris wheel, its iron buckets were filled from the top by water flowing from a dam high on the Cascade Race. |
For future research:
This is the beginning of a tunnel that ends just below
Lock #15.
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