Note 170 — Chapter XXXII · PASSAGE OF THE OHIO CANAL AND LAKE ERIE TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA, FROM THE 21ST TO THE 30TH OF JUNE
Hannibal Evans Lloyd translation
Canal Fulton was laid out in 1826 by two residents of Canton, Ohio. Its population in 1900 was 1,172.
New Portage is the southern terminus of the once well-known portage path from the Cuyahoga to the Tuscarawas, which furnished in early Indian history the most practicable route from Lake Erie to the Ohio. The road was about eight miles long, and has recently been retraced; consult A. B. Hulbert, Red-Men's Roads (Columbus, 1900), p. 33. This path also furnished a boundary between Indian Territory and that of the United States, as agreed upon by the treaties of Fort McIntosh (1785), Fort Harmar (1789), and Greenville (1795). The American town of New Portage was expected to be the future metropolis of the region, but declined with the growth of Akron.
The marshy place described by Maximilian is Summit Lake, which later, connected with surrounding basins, became the reservoir, partly natural, partly artificial, for the canal upon the watershed between Lake Erie and the Ohio.
Akron (named from a Greek word meaning elevation) was a canal town; when founded it was in Portage County, but later was made the seat of Summit County, erected in 1840. Although founded in 1825, the town was not incorporated until 1836; it was erected into a city in 1865, and by 1900 had attained a population of 42,728.—Ed.