OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 37 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 April 21, 2005 ************************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley Tid Bits- part 37 Notes by S Kelly ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 37. Charles Dickens at Upper Sandusky In 1842, Charles Dickens passed through Upper Sandusky, tarrying over night at a log cabin tavern. he had come in a stage couch from Columbus, and was en route to Sandusky City, where he took a steamer to Buffalo. In his "American Notes," after describing the roughness of the travelling by stage coach , the painful experience of jolting over corduroy roads, and through forests, bogs and swamps, the team forcing its way cork-screw fashion, he says: " At length, between ten and eleven o'clock at night, a few feeble lights appeared in the distance, and Upper Sandusky, an indian village, where we were to stay till morning, lay before us. They were gone to bed at the log-inn, which was the only house of entertaiment in the place, but soon answered our knocking, and got some tea for us in a sort of kitchen or common room, tapestried with old newspapers pasted against the wall. The bedchamber to which my wife and I were shown was a large, low, ghostly room with a quanity of withered branches on the hearth, and two doors without any fastening, opposite each other, both opening on the black night and wild country, and so contrived that one of them always blew the orher open; a novelty in domestic architecture which I do not remember to have see before, and which I was somewhat disconcerted to have forced on y attention after getting into bed, as I had a considerable sum in gold for our travelling expenses in my dressing case. Some of the luggage, however, piled against the panels soon settled this difficulty, and my sleep would not have been very much affected that night, I believe, though it failed to do so. My Boston friend climbed up to bed somewhere in the roof, where another guest was already snoring hugely. But being bitten beyond his power of endurance he turned out again, and fled for shelter to the coach, which was airing itself in front of the house. This was not a very politic step as it turned out, for the pigs scenting him, and looking upon the coach as a kind of pie with some manner of meat inside, grunted round it so hideously that he was afraid to come out again, and lay there, shivering till morning. Nor was it possible to warm him, when he did come out by means of a glass of brandy; for in Indian villages the legislature, with very good and wise intention, forbides the sale of spirits by tavern-keepers. The precaution, however is quite inefficacious, for the Indian never fails to procure liquor of a worse kind at a dearer price from travelling peddlers. It is a settlement of Wyandot Indians who inhabit this place. Among the company was a mild old gentleman ( Col John Johnston), who for many years employed by the United States government in conducting negotiations with the Indians, and who had just completed a treaty with these people by which they bound themselves, in consideration of a certain annual sum, to remove next year to some land provided for them west of the Mississippi and a little way beyond St. Louis. He gave me a moving account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their infancy, and in particular to their burial places of their kindred, and of their great reluctance to leave them. He had witnessed many such removals, and always with pain, though he knew that they departed for their own good. The question whether this tribe should go or stay had been discussed among them a day or two before in a hut erected for the purpose, the logs of which still lay upon the ground before the inn. When the speaking was done the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite sides, and every male adult voted on his turn. The moment the result was known the minority ( a large one ) cheerfully yielded to the rest, and withdrew all kind of opposition. We met some of these poor Indians afterward riding on shaggy ponies. They were so like the meaner sort of gypsies that if I could have seen them in Englnd I should have concluded, as a matter of fact of course, that they belonged to that wandering and restless people. " +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Cholera Epidemics Beginning in the early 1830's, Cholera epidemics killed thousands of United States citizens, including many in Ohio. People who contract this disease generally suffer from severe diarrhea, vomiting and cramps. The disease is spread by drinking water or eating food that is contaminated with human feces. People with this illness can die from dehydration within a few hours after the symptoms first appear. Cholera first appeared in the United States in 1832. European immigrants apparently brought the disease with them to America. Cleveland residents were the first people in Ohio to contract the illness. Migrants or businessmen who traveled across Lake Erie could have brought the disease. With poor sanitation systems, cholera tended to be the most virulent in cities. By the autumn of 1832, the illness had reached Cincinnati, probably by way of people travelling along the Ohio River. The Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers allowed the disease to spread quickly across the United States in all directions. Canals provided a relatively stagnant source of water that allowed cholera to fester. As a result of the stagnant water, canal workers commonly died from it. The worst epidmic to affect Ohio was in 1849, where eight thousand people died in Cincinnati, including Harriet Beecher Stowe's infant son. Many Cincinnati residents fled the city and ended up in Mt Pleasant, a community that escaped the illness. The town residents soon changed its name to Mt. Healthy in honor of its good fortune. In Columbus, 116 inmates at the Ohio Penitentiary succumbed to the illness. Former President James Polk, a resident of Tennessee, was the most famous person to die of cholera in 1849. It was also reported to have resulted in the postponement of the first Ohio State Fair and the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851. This terrible disease most commonly struck during the spring, summer and fall. Cold winters, at least in Ohio, routinely killed the cholera germ. Unfortunately those who were stricken , the treatment , at least before the Civil War, was almost as bad as the disease itself, as the medicine Calomel contained mercury, and numerous died from mercury poisoning or suffered other ill effects from this drug. Cholera epidemics continued until the early 1900's when they learned to deal with the disease with keeping the patient hydrated. Now days the illness is very rare. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Panic of 1837 The panic of the above year resulted from President Andrew Jackson's attack on the second bank of the United States. Following the war of 1812, the United States Government recognized the need for a national bank to regulate the printing of currency and the issuance of government bonds. Many Americans opposed the bank of United States, believing that it limited their ability to make land purchases and pay off other debts. Jackson had opposed banks since the 1790's, when he lost a sizable amount of money when he invested his cash in a bank. In 1832, Nicholas Biddle, the head of the Bank of the United States, asked to have the institution rechartered. In 1816, the government had authorized the bank to operate for twenty years. Biddle, at the urging of Henry Clay, applied for rechartering four years early. Congress agreed with the necessity for a national bank, but President Jackson vetoed the bill. His action, in essence, prevented the continued existence of the Bank of the United States after 1836. Jackson was not happy with waiting to 1836 for the Bank of the United States to end. So in 1832, he ordered the withdrawal of federal government funds, approximately ten million dollars, from the Bank of the United States. The President deposited these funds in state banks and privately- owned financial institutions known as 'Pet Banks.' Ohio had nine of these banks. Biddle tried to keep the national bank operational by calling in loans, but many businesses did not have the funds available to pay off their debts. As a result of Biddle's actions, numerous businsses had to close their doors due to the lack of funds during 1833-1834. After the year of economic downturn, the United States' economy boomed. State banks began loaning money to industrialists and farmers. The banks also began printing exhorbitant amounts of currency. This action led to high inflation. At the same time that the banks were printing currency and loaning out large sums of money, foreign gaverments and businesses, hoping to benefit from the United States' booming economy, loaned large sums of money to American businessmen. As a result of all these factors, high inflation resulted. Currency quickly depreciated in value. In July 1836, Jackson issued the Specie Circular. Under the act, the goverment would only accept gold or silver in payment for federal land. Foreign investors also did not want to accept American currency as payment. and they began to call in their loans to the American businessman before the currency depreciated any further. American citizens rushed te banks to withdraw the necessary funds to pay off their debts. Unfortunately, many banks had loaned out too much money and did not have sufficient reserves on hand to meet te demands of their customers. Approximately eight hundred banks closed their doors in 1837, stifling economic growth and bankrupting numerous businesses, including many of the banks. During the panic of 1837, approximately ten percent of American workers were unemployed at any one time. Mobs in New York City raided warehouses to secure food to eat. Prominent businessmen, lost everything. Churches and other charitable organizations established soup kitchens and breadlines. In Ohio, many people lost their entire life savings as banks closed. Stores refused to accept currency in payment of debts, as numerous banks printed unsecured (backed by neither gold nor silver) money. Some Ohioans printed their own money, hoping business owners would accept it. Thousands of workers lost their jobs, and many businesses reduced their workers' wages. It took until 1843 before the United States' economy truly began to recover. The Federal Government's failure to assist the American people led voters to turn against the Democratic Party, the party in control of government at the start of the panic of 1837. In 1840, voters elected William Henry Harrison, a member of the Whig Party and an Ohioan, over the Democratic candidate. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ohio Loan Law of 1837 On March 24, 1837, the Ohio legislature passed the Ohio Loan Law of 1837. This legislation was designed to assist the building of additional canals within the state. It allowed the Ohio government to loan businesses one-third of the total costs to complete a project. The only requirement was that business had to have raised two-thirds of the estimated cost before the state government would authorize a loan for the other one-third. Although the loan law was created to expand Ohio's canal system, in reality this legislation did more harm then good to the canals. Most of the loans granted by the Ohio legislature went to railroad companies, rather than to the canals. The Ohio Loan Law spurred railroad growth in the state. Canals now faced opposition from the railroads, and they quickly lost business to the faster railroad. While this law helped to improve the states' transportation infrastructure, it also caused a great deal of harm in another way. Critics of this legislation commonly referred to it as the " Plunder Law, " because the Ohio's treasury's monetary resources declined greatly because o the law. The Ohio legislature loaned more money than existed in their treasury. As a result of these loans, the Ohio government had to borrow money to pay its exenses. By 1839, Ohio had a deficit of more than one-quarter of a million dollars. Most of it resulted from interest the state govenment owed to its creditors. In 1840, the Ohio legislature repealed the Plunder Law. The Ohio Loan Law had plundered the Ohio treasury, but it also had allowed for dramatic improvements in transportation within the state's borders. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits continued in part 38.