THE OHIO CANALS
The Miami-Erie Canal
Toledo
Maumee
Perrysburg
Waterville
Grand Rapids
Texas
Defiance
Junction
Delphos
Spencerville
St. Marys
Lock Two
Fort Loramie
Newport
Lockington
Piqua
Troy
Tipp City
Dayton
Miamisbury
Middletown
Hamilton
Cincinnati
The Ohio-Erie Canal
Cleveland
Akron
Clinton
Canal Fulton
Navarre
Bolivar
Dover
New Philadelphia
Midvale
Port Washington
Newcomerstown
Coschocton
Adams Mills
Dresden
Newark
Canal Winchester
Lockbourne
Circleville
Chillicothe
Piketon
Portsmouth
The Pennsylvania-Ohio Canal
Akron
Kent
Ravenna
Campbellsport
Newton Falls
Warren
Niles
Youngstown
Lowellville
The Sandy-Beaver Canal
Bolivar
Sandyville
Minerva
Lisbon
Smiths Ferry
The Hocking Canal
Canal Winchester
Lancaster
Logan
Athens
Hockingport
THE OHIO CANALS
Second Edition
FRANK WILCOX
Selected and edited by William A. McGill
With a New Introduction by Lynn Metzger and Peg Bobel
A pictorial survey of the Ohio canals using the drawings and paintings of Frank
supplemented by selections of text by the artist
with revisions by William A. McGill
THE KENT STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Kent, Ohio
Copyright 2015 by The Kent State University Press
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-1-60635-258-8
Manufactured in Korea
Cataloging information for this title is available at the Library of Congress.
Second edition 2015
19 18 17 16 15 5 4 3 2 1
Preface
As a painter, Frank Wilcox reigned supreme when he set out upon a comprehensive journey into an area that totally captivated his interest and imagination. His efforts, usually sustained over a period of years, gave birth to countless studies and sketches made in the field, dozens of preliminary essays, several fullsize color renditions; and finallywith a vast backlog of information and understandinghe then unleashed a spontaneous wetintowet watercolor that vibrates with the dynamic force he always conveyed.
This series of paintings, sketches, studies, and drawings treating the early canals in Ohio well exemplifies this process. A lesser artist might have been content to merely insinuate the countless details of locale and costume that are necessary for historical accuracy. Instead Mr. Wilcox walked the towpaths, sought out the hidden and overgrown vestiges of mosscovered locks, and personally researched every mile of the longlost major canals in the state. With his gifted brush he captured the nostalgia of the remembered past. This warmth and sympathy he communicated with a verve unequaled by many painters.
Rarely today does one ever confront an artist, who with each masterful brushstroke conveys a sense of meaning and worth to what he does. However, Frank Wilcox was such an artist. Because of his sincerity, thoroughness, and skill, his works make our lives much richer for walking with him by the long untrodden ways.
That which shall be no more, lives on through the dedicated works of one of Americas finest watercolorists.
William A. McGill
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Frank Wilcox planned the illustrations expressedly for this book but, in the case of the watercolors, agreed to the sale of a few of the originals. To those whose collections include these originals, grateful acknowledgment is made for their kindness in permitting color reproductions to be made for this book.
The following subjects are in the several collections of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph L. Wilson of Canton, Ohio (Opening Vista), Mr. and Mrs. Bruce I. Gheen of Shaker Heights, Ohio (Lock, Ohio and Erie Canal), Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth D. Bryson of Olmsted Falls, Ohio (Lock at Maumee and Packet at Port Washington), Baldwin-Wallace College, North Hall, Berea, Ohio (The Hermit: Ohio Canal) and The Second National Bank, Warren, Ohio (Ohio and Erie Canal and In the Lock).
Foreword
No picture in the pastoral mood could surpass the view of Ohios old canals in their days. In the 1890s the valleys had regained their verdure after the harsh clearings of the pioneer period. True, the trade on the waterways had lessened, had all but passed away; but this fact only enhanced the restful charm of the landscape. The red bridges, weathered by time, remained; the old taverns still stood; and the locks still spurted water from their mossy gates. What matter if only a few white barges passed in the course of a sleepy afternoon? It was long after they were sighted that their rippling reflections drew near, and there was no reason to hurry at the slow approach of the plodding horses on the towpath.
They have made speedways of the old canals and here and there they have turned the taverns into modern inns; but, even now in places one sees enough to reconstruct the scene as it was when rustling leaves and wind-ruffled water were accompanied by the muffled roar of the sluices and the bubbling of the emptying wickets. The canal boat, the towpath and the horses fitted into the picture; and the wooden bridges and the dripping aqueducts were as much a part of nature as the sod-grown banks and the ancient sycamores.
It has been said that the Canawlers were a rough and rowdy set, socially undesirable, but that must have been slander. One likes to think of one last survivor, the picturesque hermit, a muskrat trapper, who so long inhabited the last mouldering barge to rot away in the Pinery Narrows. He at least must have felt the charm of the canal to the last, even if his habitation was of the worst sort for aging bones.
But if this memory is like some old darkened painting, remember that the picture was once bright and glowing, and quite the fashion. There was a time when the canal and all pertaining to it belonged to an active, earnest, and realistic present. Perhaps to those then living it seemed to be evolving from what was a distasteful wilderness; to our eyes it is a symbol of the ancient, verdant peace of unspoiled nature.
