June 25, 1834
Cold fog in the morning. During the night we passed the villages of Bolivar and Bethlehem. At daybreak we were at Massillon, a charming town in Stark County that was begun in 1826. The place has about 100 houses and 500 inhabitants. We crossed the Tuscarawas, which flowed now to the left of the canal; both [the river and the canal] had dark brown water—almost as dark as that of Brazilian forest rivers.
At eight o’clock we reached Fulton, a village with a few nice houses in Lawrence Township, Stark County. [It can be seen] that the whole area was originally covered with unbroken primeval forest. The canal followed the Tuscarawas. The catbird was common everywhere along the whole canal. We observed turtles [and] bull and tree frogs, and snakes were often seen swimming quickly across the canal. We saw highly picturesque forest scenery [in] dark shadow [along] the Tuscarawas; in marshy places, we frequently [saw] Icterus phoeniceus, with its splendid red shoulder spots. At times we found open woodlands of tall, slender oaks; there were also [oak forests?] with an undergrowth [and,] beyond [these,] marshes or marshy meadow areas in forests, [the marshy spots] overgrown with low[?]-willows.
On the canal. a small rose bloomed. Though undersized, it did not seem to be different from the ones that grew shrublike in the forests and uncultivated areas. It was covered with large flowers—a dainty ornamental shrub. [There] were often dense clumps of Hamamelis bushes on the canal. There [were again] many dead or stag-headed [trees along] the canal, doubtless resulting from the wetness caused by the [canal] construction. Cercis canadensis grew here very luxuriantly. Its leaves were quite large, the foliage very dense.
About noon we reached the town of New Portage, where traders in days gone by transported their goods, intended for the Indians, overland from one river to the other. Conifers [appeared] shortly in the marshland—apparently a type of larch (Larix) since it drops its leaves in winter. Whole [stands] of this tree stood [along] the canal, withered and dry. The tree was called tamarack or hackmatack.
A small, lovely lake surrounded by woodlands absorbed the canal here. On the right bank [there were] reeds and yellow-blooming Nymphaea, as well as many other kinds of water plants and grasses. A wooden dam ran down the middle of the lake [for its] whole length; the horses walked there, pulling the boats. The soil near the lake is a black bog, like peat. The beautiful conifer just mentioned grew everywhere here but [soon] ceased on the other side [of the lake]. [There was] also a nice, blue-blooming Pontederia.
A little farther on, [where] the canal expands [almost] into a lake, [we came to] Akron, a significant town in an unusual location. It is in Portage County, was founded in the year 1825, [has] significant trade, [and is] approximately 32 miles from Cleveland. It has many nice wooden houses, stores, factories, an iron foundry, a wood turner’s workshop (where a wheel turns out bedsteads and similar furniture), and so on.
The valley here begins a steep descent; the canal runs down through the center of town. In order to bring the boats down from a significant, rocky height, it was necessary to [place] many locks [close] together. The surrounding area [has] many busy people, scattered houses, much water, [and] nice woodlands that [together] form a highly interesting, lively picture. Once we got to the foot of the hill, we were gliding on the beautiful, dark brown mirror of the canal through forests, thickets, and newly green meadows.
Luxuriant leaves in many shapes shone in an incomparable and lively way along the banks of the coffee-brown mirror. Glorious trees (among them tall, slender tulip trees, oaks, various walnut trees, and sassafras) shade the [thickets of] low bushes. The locks were more and more distantly spaced as we [moved] farther down [the canal]. In a distance of 2 1/2 miles we counted 21 [locks], of which about 10 to 12 followed each other directly in Akron. Typha grew in the shadows of the bushes on the bank of a small, nice lake or pond.
[Then] we reached the Cuyahoga River, which accompanied us [all the way] down to Lake Erie. After approximately one mile, we came to the small, scattered village of Old Portage in a lovely green setting carved out from the forest [and] surrounded entirely by picturesque wooded hills. Broad-leafed Asclepias and Phytolacca were sprouting profusely but did not yet have any flowers. The evening was incomparably beautiful.
A few miles farther on, [we saw] a stone mill where grindstones were manufactured from the local freestone. This is the same rock formation as that [which] was found and put to use [around] Chillicothe. This [same] stone occurs, [with a] coarser grain, near the town of Akron.