Deep Cut and Millersport Cemetery

Millersport Cemetery
Millstreet
Millersport, OH 43046

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Deep Cut and Millersport Cemetery

The remarkable engineering feat known as the “Deep Cut” can be seen from the cemetery, especially during the winter months when the trees have no foliage. The change in grade leaving Buckeye Lake (Licking Reservoir) required digging a huge trench more than 100 feet wide to a depth of from 32 to 68 feet. It is a significant engineering feature in the southern descent of the Ohio & Erie Canal between Buckeye Lake and Portsmouth.

The remarkable engineering feat known as the “Deep Cut” can be seen from the cemetery, especially during the winter months when the trees have no foliage. The change in grade leaving Buckeye Lake (Licking Reservoir) required digging a huge trench more than 100 feet wide to a depth of from 32 to 68 feet. It is a significant engineering feature in the southern descent of the Ohio & Erie Canal between Buckeye Lake and Portsmouth.

Just southwest of Millersport the canal’s builders faced a daunting challenge. The canal had to get past a ridge of high ground dividing the watersheds of the Licking River and Little Walnut Creek. Using locks to go up one side and down the other was not possible because there was no water source at the summit. Going around would have meant an unacceptably longer canal. The only choice was to go through the obstacle by means of a “cut” in which tens of thousands of cubic yards of clay, rocks, and soil would have to be removed. From the top of the natural ground, construction crews dug a huge trench more than 100 feet wide to a depth of from 32 to as much as 68 feet below the natural ground level for a distance of nearly two miles, with only hand tools, wooden scoops, and oxcarts to do the work. By any measure it was a massive engineering achievement for its time that required around five years to complete. The Deep Cut digging delayed opening of the canal in central and southern Ohio by two years. It opened to boat traffic in 1832 so the canal could continue is southward progress to Portsmouth. The Deep Cut was expensive in terms of time and money, but its worst cost was in the lives of many of its builders. Outbreaks of diseases such as cholera were common during construction of the canal. The Millersport Cemetery provides the best and safest view of the Deep Cut and may be the final resting place of some of the canal workers.

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Notes for Travelers

This is the best viewing spot for the Deep Cut (best during the winter months when the trees lose foliage). Deep Cut Road runs along the west side of the cut and is lined with homes making viewing difficult. The road is somewhat hilly, which is a result of the earth being excavated from the canal and placed along the edge of the canal.

https://visitfairfieldcounty.org/category/buckeye-lake/

The Italianate-style Pugh Mansion is located on Bickel Church Road in the area where the canal emerges from the Deep Cut into the plain of Fairfield County. A watered section of the canal still exists next to the property. During the 19th century there were canal buildings on the property at the edge of the canal. An image from the Evert’s 1875 Atlas shows the house, canal buildings, and canal.



Credits

Jeff Darbee, Nancy Recchie, David Meyer

Additional Resources

Meyer, David. Life Along the Ohio Canal – Licking Reservoir to Lockbourne and Columbus Feeder

Meyer, David. Life Along the Ohio Canal in the Scioto River Valley

The Greater Buckeye Lake Historical Society Museum is located at 4729 Walnut Road, Buckeye Lake 43005. http://www.millersportohio.com/history