The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1947-03-13
They Drained The
Reservoirs


sportsmen from all over Ohio INTO
the tills of businessmen in cities at
both ends of the lake, there is an in
teresting story.
1t is a tale Of how the residents Of
st. Marys and Celina did not want
the great body of water there; how
nearly there came to be no fish; and
how close all of Mercer County's of
ficials and more than 100 other of
the county's prominent citizens came
to going to the penitentiary for de-
stroying state property.
That was 104 years ago, so no Mer-
Ger countian feels embarrassment at
the rattle of ancestral bones in his
closet at this late date.
Lake Established in 1887
Lake st. Marys, originally the Mer-
Ger County reservoir, then the Grand
reservoir, and sometimes called both
the St. Marys and the Celina reser-
voir, was established in 1887 as
feeder of the st. Marys extension of
the Miami & Erie canal.
1t is on the watershed between the
Ohio River and the Great Lakes, and
from st. Marys the Auglaize and the
st. Marys rivers and Town creek
flowed north and the Saltwater and
the Great Miami rivers and Loramie
creek flowed south.
Besides feeding the canal the res
ervoir, with Loraniie creek and Lake
Loramie, IL miles south, got rid of
tedious portage in the inland water
way between the Great Lakes and
the Ohio. In times Of drouth water
travellers had to carry their canoes
| IL miles between Loramie and st.
Marys, and in high water times, six
miles. Freight had to be unloaded,
hauled over the portage and then re-
loaded on boats.
State Pays $4,000 for Land
The state appropriated $4,000 to
pay for the lands and crops the res
ervoir would cover, and at the same
time passed a resolution that ''no
water should be let into the reser-
voir before the same should be clear
ed of timber and the parties paid for
the land"
History states that the officers
and land spectators squandered the
money and the payments were not
made.
Early in May, 1s43, the water was
let in, submerging the growing crops
and other farm property. A protest
ing Mercer County delegation was
told at Piqua, where the Board of
Public Works then was located, to
'go back home and help yourselves
if you can" A second delegation
went to Piqua and was told, when
they threatened to blow up the res
ervoir if the payments were not
made by May Is, "the Fqua Guards
will be there and will rout you on
that day"
Reservoir Bank Cut
At a. m., May Is, the reservoir
bank was cut "at its strongest point
and the water rushed 30 feet below
the reservoir wall" The flood was
six weeks in subsiding. More thar
100 citizens of st. Marys and Celina
had assembled with wheelbarrows
shovels and picks and had dug away
the wall and wheeled the dirt entire
ly off state property.
Warrants charging destruction of
state property we're issued against
every county official, including jud-
ges, sheriffs, clerks and the auditor
and for 100 other citizens of the
county. After a grand jury failed to
indict any of them, the state appro-
priated $4,000 more and paid for
the flood damage.
What Happened in Paulding County
Different luck was had by Pauld-
ing County citizens in getting rid of
their abandoned reservoir of the Wa
bash & Erie canal. The lake, just east
of Antwerp, had become stagnant
and fetid, menacing public health
The state repeatedly had promised to
do something about it, but no action
had been taken.
Then one night, about 200 persons
captured the reservoir watchman
burned his shanty and worked all
night with picks and shovels, dyna-
mited two locks and a bulkhead and
let the 200 acres of smelly water rush
away.
That was on May 25, 1888, Soldiers
were sent to Antwerp, but as they
could not find out who had been i'm
plieated, no arrests ever We're made
1t was Paulding County's second
attempt to dynamite the reservoir.
The preceding one, made a few
weeks before, had failed. That had
caused watch shanty to be built
and a watehman stationed at the
lake
The former bed of the Paulding
County reservoir now Is considered
the richest and most fertile farm
land IN the county.
Lake st. Marys Holds Record
Lake St. Marys, nine miles long
and from two to four miles wide, is
the largest artificial hnely of water