In the days that followed the Revolution, Connecticut claimed certain lands south of Lake Erie. A large part of these she sold to the Connecticut Land Company, who wanted to colonize the country and establish New Connecticut.

It was in 1796 that the Connecticut Land Company sent General Moses Cleaveland west, to survey the land and choose a site for a settlement. After surveying about sixty miles, Cleaveland fixed on a plateau just south of Lake Erie, where the Cuyahoga River runs into the lake. Soon the settlement was laid out with a square and two main streets and was very properly called Cleaveland. The name was spelled with an a, just as Moses Cleaveland spelled his name. There is no a in the city's name to-day, the story being that the extra letter was dropped, and the new spelling adopted, in 1831, through a newspaper's claiming that the a would not fit conveniently into its headline.

At first the new settlement did not prosper. The soil was poor, and commerce along the Ohio River attracted immigrants into the interior. Those that stayed in Cleveland had a hard struggle with fever. The mouth of the Cuyahoga River was frequently choked with sand, making the water in the river's bed stagnant and furnishing a breeding place for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. During the summer and autumn of 1798 affairs were in a desperate condition. Every one in the settlement was miserable. There was no flour, and for two months Nathaniel Doan's boy was the only person strong enough to go to the house of one James Kingsbury, on the highlands back of the town, for corn. This he carried to a gristmill at Newburgh, six miles to the south, and had it ground into meal for the sick.

Besides the suffering caused by fever, there was danger of Indian attacks and the ever-present dread of the wolves and bears which prowled about the settlement, so that no one dared go out at night unarmed, and no door was left without a loaded musket to guard it.

But in spite of the dangers of these early years, the settlers for the most part led a busy, happy life. The women especially had their hands full—keeping their houses clean and neat; doing the cooking and baking; spinning, weaving, cutting out, and sewing the clothes for their families (usually large) and knitting their stockings. Then there were the sick to be visited and nursed, and the neighbors to be helped with their quilting.

When a new settler arrived, all the men would pitch in and help in the “cabin raising,” finishing the work in short order. They often ended up with a jolly dance, though the music was sometimes nothing more than the whistling of the dancers.

For the first ten years Cleveland was only a hamlet of a few dozen people. Still it continued to exist, and in 1815 was incorporated as a village. Another year saw the first bank started, and before long its first newspaper was printed. This paper was supposed to be a weekly, but often appeared only every ten, twelve, or fifteen days, at the convenience of the editor.

Already, in supplying her own needs, Cleveland was laying the foundation for some of her future industries. In fact, soon after the settlement was founded, Nathaniel Doan built a blacksmith shop on what is now Superior Avenue. Though the shop was only a rude affair built of logs, it deserves the name of Cleveland's first manufacturing plant. Here Nathaniel Doan not only shod the few horses which needed his services but made tools as well. A gristmill and sawmill came next, and then began the building of small schooners.

In the early years of the nineteenth century there was practically no way of communicating with the settlements on the Ohio River. And except for an occasional party of French and Indians, there was no means of hearing from Detroit. In 1818, however, regular stage routes began to be opened. One line went to Columbus, one to Norwalk, and one to Painesville. This last route advertised that its stage would leave Cleveland at two on Friday afternoon and would reach Painesville on Saturday morning at eight—a journey which to-day can easily be made by automobile in a little more than an hour. Turnpikes soon displaced these rough stage routes, and over them great six-horse wagons drew freight into Cleveland.

Though all these things helped Cleveland, it was still nothing more than a village—and so primitive a village that when two hundred dollars was voted for improvements, one of the old citizens asked, “What on earth can the trustees find in this village to spend two hundred dollars on?”

Finally, came two events which were the making of Cleveland. In 1827 the Ohio Canal was opened from Cleveland to Akron and later to the mouth of the Scioto River, which flows into the Ohio at Portsmouth; and in 1828 a channel was cut through the bar at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. Consider what this meant to Cleveland. The Ohio Canal connected the village with the Ohio River, thus putting Cleveland in touch with the rich coal, iron, oil, and coke lands of western Pennsylvania. Travelers, too, found the canal boats much better to journey on than the old stagecoaches.

The deepening of the mouth of the Cuyahoga River gave Cleveland a harbor and a place to build the enormous docks which to-day line the river's shore for the last few miles of its length. A few years earlier an effort to protect lake vessels had been made by building a pier out into the lake near the sand bar. The lake soon tore the pier to pieces, however, and the vessels still had to be hauled over the bar to safety. But with the sand bar cut, boats could sail in and out of the river at their pleasure.

Splendid results followed. The population increased, frame houses gradually came to take the place of log cabins, business greatly improved, and in 1836 Cleveland became a city.

The year 1851 saw a great celebration in Cleveland over the opening of the first railroad. This brought added prosperity to the city. Then, too, iron ore began to arrive by water from the Lake Superior mines. At the same time more and more coal was being received. The manufacturers commenced to appreciate the tremendous advantages of living at a natural meeting place of these two great necessities. Cleveland awoke to a new business activity.

Then came the Civil War, and the manufacturing of iron products for the government crowded Cleveland's factories. During the years of the war the refining of coal oil developed into one of the city's leading industries. It was then that the great Standard Oil Company was organized. Many came to the city, attracted by these growing industries, so that what proved a disastrous period in many sections of our country was really a time of growth for Cleveland.

Soon after the war East Cleveland was annexed to the city, and in 1873 Newburgh too became a part of Cleveland. Then, in 1893, West Cleveland and Brooklyn were taken in, and when Cleveland celebrated the anniversary of its founding in 1896, it had become a city of great importance in the country.

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At present Cleveland extends for over 14 miles along Lake Erie and covers more than 50 square miles. The larger part of the city lies to the east of the Cuyahoga River. The valley of this river is filled with car tracks, lumber yards, car shops, coal sheds, ore docks, and shipyards. Being in the valley, these are partially hidden from the city. Huge viaducts span the valley and unite the east and west sides of Cleveland.

The heart of the business quarter and the center of the street railway lines is Monumental Square, which lies about a mile from the lake shore. From this square radiate the streets in a fan shape, at every angle from northeast to west. Euclid Avenue is Cleveland's most famous street, having for years enjoyed the reputation of being one of the country's finest avenues. The lower end is taken up with business, but farther out are many splendid residences surrounded by extensive and beautifully kept lawns. Cleveland is called the Forest City, and it is to the old trees which grace its parks and line both sides of Euclid Avenue that it owes its name. Another important business street is Superior Avenue, which runs through the main business portion of the city.

Though Cleveland is a beautiful city, its importance really lies in the fact of its occupying just the position that it does. Being on Lake Erie puts it in touch with the copper fields of Michigan, the iron mines of Minnesota and Michigan, and the huge forests along the Great Lakes. Through railroad connections it is also in touch with the coal, oil, and iron supplies of western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Thus, lying in the center of eastern and western commerce, Cleveland has become a great manufacturing center, and the Cleveland district is the largest ore market in the world. Lake vessels bring the ore to Cleveland's enormous docks, where huge machines quickly transfer it to cars waiting to carry it to Pittsburgh and other cities.

Cleveland, also, has several blast furnaces and immense factories of iron and steel supplies. It holds first rank in America for the making of wire and nails. More ships are built in the Cleveland district than anywhere else in the world except in the shipyards on the Clyde River in Scotland. Then, too, Cleveland makes steel bridges[149]
[150] and buildings, automobiles, and gas ranges. Quantities of women's clothing are made in Cleveland. Slaughtering and the wholesale meat-packing business are other important industries.

It is a simple matter to ship Cleveland's manufactures in every direction. The main lines of the New York Central and the Nickel Plate pass through Cleveland, and it is a terminal city of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, & St. Louis Railroad,—commonly known as the Big Four,—the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroads. More than this, Cleveland is the center of a vast network of interurban electric railways that carry both passengers and freight and keep the city in hourly communication with the many smaller cities of northern Ohio.

Cleveland gets its water supply from Lake Erie through tunnels built out under the lake, which connect with two intake cribs, one of which is five miles from the shore. Natural gas, pumped through large mains from the gas fields of West Virginia, more than 200 miles away, is sold to the people of Cleveland at 30 cents a thousand. The street railway service is among the best in the country, and the fare is lower than in any other large American city.

Cleveland has excellent educational advantages. Western Reserve University, founded in 1826, is especially noted for its law and medical schools. In Cleveland, also, are the Case School of Applied Science, the Cleveland School of Art, St. Ignatius College, the Homeopathic Medical College, and the University School. The public schools of the city are among the best.

Cleveland has a beautiful park system. The different parks are connected by boulevards, which form a great semicircle through the residence districts. There are also numerous small parks and playgrounds in the more congested districts. A plan for grouping the city's public buildings about a broad parkway is being carried out. Several of the buildings are already completed. When finished, this will be one of the most beautiful and most imposing spectacles in America.

All of these things, added to the great possibilities for occupation offered by the city's many lines of work, have given Cleveland a population of over 560,000. To-day the little settlement of Cleaveland, made in 1796 at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, has become the second of all lake ports and the sixth city in size in the United States.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY

1. Give the history of the name and the settlement of Cleveland.

2. Tell something of the dangers and difficulties of the first settlers of Cleveland.

3. What was Cleveland's first manufacturing plant, and what others did it soon have?

4. What means of communication with other cities did Cleveland have in the early days of its history?

5. To what two events does Cleveland chiefly owe its rapid growth? Why?

6. What two products found a meeting place at Cleveland, and with what results?

7. How did the Civil War help the growth of the city?

8. What benefits does Cleveland derive from its location on Lake Erie?

9. What are the most important industries of the Cleveland district?

10. What railroad facilities has Cleveland to-day?

11. Mention some of the things that make Cleveland a pleasant place in which to live and a good place for business.

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