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CHAPTER XVII
COMMERCE OF SANDUSKY
The Clarion of March 5, 1827, contained a detailed review of the
commerce of Sandusky from the issue of the first number of that paper
in April, 1822, to the former date. From that, it appeared that the
number of lake arrivals each year was as follows: 1822, 178; 1823, 190;
1824, 254; 1825, 286; 1826, 355. The latter were from the following
named ports: Detroit, 150; Buffalo, 131; Black Rock, 40; Cleveland, 13;
Maumee, 6; Erie, 3; Canada, 2; Michilimackinac (Mackinac), 2; Green
Bay, 1; Ashtabula, 1. Of the arrivals, 168 were of steamboats (the
Chippewa, Henry Clay, Superior, Enterprise, Pioneer, Niagara, and
William Penn) ; and 178 of schooners. The shortest season was that
of 1823—from March 31st to December 13th; and the longest, 1824—
from January 1st to December 29th—the bay being closed for two
days only.
In 1833 the boats that ran on Lake Erie were. The Sandusky,
Bunker Hill, Milwaukee, Chesapeake, America and Indiana. «
The Clarion of December 8, 1846, states that 60,000 bushels of
wheat a week are shipped from Sandusky to Buffalo and Oswego.
On October 30, 1850, 111,644 bushels of wheat were shipped from
Sandusky. On November 10, 1851, the Register states that to November
1st, 2,017,548 bushels of wheat and 558,016 bushels of corn were
shipped from Sandusky. On April 5, 1854, the Register states sturgeon
are caught so plentifully that they could not be sold. As late as
October 1, 1877, Linkenbach & Company caught a sturgeon weighing
125 pounds.
THE HARBOR
From the earliest days of lake navigation, Sandusky harbor has
been considered the best on the chain of lakes. Practically landlocked,
it offers a safe haven in time of storm and gives anchorage room for
more vessels than any other harbor on the inland seas.
In the early days of navigation, long before the age of steam vessels,
this Avas the objective point of alt vessels that sailed the lakes. From
the upper lakes lumber and other products were brought doAvn. From
Sandusky, Venice and Milan were shipped in all directions the wheat
• and corn grown on the fertile farms of interior Ohio. From the waters
of the lake came the myriads of fish caught by hardy fishermen and to
the north and Avest Avent the products, of the coal mines of Central
Ohio. Passenger packets from Buffalo landed thousands of immigrants
in Sandusky to find homes in the new country.
Vol. 1—15
225