Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1856-09-19

ed in hot haste and certificates issuedto tn,
contractors for the contract price by th'
acting commissioner of that division, anC
the contractors very soon after sold tho Ger
tifcates to third persons. The state rebuilt
the acqueduct at great expense, and sustain
ed great loss by the obstruction to Dsviga
ton. In another instance, was informed
upon very good authority, contract was
let for cleaning out bar, or a deposit, il
the st. Marys Basin, at a certain price pei
yard. The engineer estimated to the con.
tractors and they received pay for as many
yards Rs there are in the whole Basin, from
the surface of the water to the bottom
This was communicated to me by gentle
man connected with the public works. He
said these facts appeared by comparing the
estimate of the engineer with the actual
quantity contained in the Basin, according
to papers on file in the office Of the board.
In the fall of 1851, james B. Steedman
was elected a member of the board. In
February, 1852, about the time he went in
to office, he received from the state $500
for stone belonging to the state, as evi-
denced by his receipt on file, of which the
is copy:
No. 80. February 9, 1882.
Reed Of Alex. P Miller Acting Com
missioner by The hands of John G Isham
Superintendent of Repairs on the Eastern
Div NJ & E Canal Five Hundred Dollars
for 1000 perches of Us Gu feet cay pro-
lection stone deposited on my farm and pur-
chased by order of Acting Com at 25 per
perch.
$500. JAMES B STEEDMAN
In constructing the canal through the
farm referred to in Mr.. Steedman's receipt,
many years before Mr.. Steedman owned
the farm, large quantity of stone was ex-
cayated and deposited along the bank of
the canal. According to a statute then and
still in force, all stone and other materials
excavated from the canal became the prop
erty of the State, tho owners being paid
therefor in the damages for the right of way.
In this case, it is said, damages have been
paid at different times, amounting in all to
the full value of the whole farm. The
board had previously used considerable
quantities of these stone, from time to time,
for protecting the banks of the canal along
the Maumee River without again paying for
them. But when Mr.. Steedman became
the owner of the farm, and after it had
become his duty to protect the interests of
the state, he not only sells to others part
of the stone which belonged to the state
and appropriated the proceeds to his
own use, but he takes from the state
pay, at a good round price, for all that is
used for repairing the canal. Mr.. Steed-
man was not the owner of these stone either
in moral or legal point of view. The
state had already paid their full value to
the former owner, and MIR. Steedman ac-
quired no title to them by the purchase of
the farm after the right of way had been
acquired and the stone excavated.
In the spring of 1851, the democratic
board turned out Judge Rowland as super
of the Maumee and Western Re-
serve Road, and appointed J. C. Wales in
his place. Rowland was paid salary of
$50 per month. Wales was paid the same
at first, but afterwards it was raised to S65
per month, nearly double what was paid to
Rowland. Besides his salary, Wales charg-
ed the state for his horse and carriage hire,
postage stamps, stationary, Office rent DC.
No such charges were made by Howland.-I
On the lst of April, 1855, James J, Parks,
Of the firm of Parks and Hayes, was ap-
pointed in tho place of Wales and paid the
same salary. At the time Parks q Hayes
had contract for putting stone on the road,
which they did Lot complete till the next
fall. Parks was, therefore, superintendent
and contractor at the same time.
These few examples out of many more
that might be cited, are sufficient to show
the reason why the cost of repairs, &c, un-
der the democratic administration has been
so greatly increased and has so far exceed
ed the appropriations.
LETTING REPAIRS.
AS soon as the democratic members of
board found that they were about to lose
control of the public works, they determin-
ed to let the contracts, before they went out
of Office, for keeping the public works in re-
pair for FIVE years. The law under which
they claimed the power TO do it was passed
in 1s45, but they made no move towards
doing any such thing until the people had
decided to turn them out. 1t was the only