Thinking big

"What can you do?" his prospective employer asked Merritt Andrus Cleveland.

The young man from Watertown, perhaps 20 at the time, replied simply, "Drive stakes."

So goes the story, perhaps oversimplified, of the beginning of the civil engineering career of a man who helped Canada redirect the flow of the St. Lawrence River more than a century ago.

Long before the St. Lawrence Seaway locks were set in motion in 1958, Canada created the Welland Canal, and it was under the guidance of Merritt Cleveland that portions of that project were accomplished.

Construction of the Welland Canal began in 1824 at Allanburg, Ontario, with expansion and improvement continuing for decades. But as the 19th century neared its conclusion, more work was needed to secure a safe shipping route from Montreal to the Great Lakes.

Mr. Cleveland entered the picture in 1886, when he and a partner formed the engineering company of Murray and Cleveland in St. Catherines, Ontario. The following year, they won a contract to deepen the Welland Canal, and in 1888, they were awarded two projects — to construct a canalaround the Galoup rapids and an eastern entrance to Toronto harbor.

Then came the task that was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the day.

Vessels still had to navigate a "circuitous and shallow American channel ... while passing between the Canadian ports of Prescott and Cardinal," a Watertown Daily Times salute to Mr. Cleveland reported in October 1903. There were concerns that in the event of war or a blockade, shipping could be brought to an abrupt halt.

Canada in 1896 determined that a deep and safe channel must be added to the canal system. Rock at the bottom of the channel between two islands, Drummond and Duck, needed to be excavated.

"It was here that the trained experience of Mr. Cleveland had its opportunity," the Times said.

His plan: to connect the two islands with the mainland shore by a series of dams to pool about 70 acres of water, creating an artificial lake from which water could be pumped until the basin was dry. Then excavation could begin.

Work commenced on June 1, 1897. Mr. Cleveland directed the installation of two large steam pumps that together pumped a million gallons of water per hour. Large sluiceways were built to carry the water back to the river below existing dams.

In seven days, the pumps had the basin dry and ready for digging. Two cableways were built to carry away blasted rock, much if it coming in 10- to 15-ton boulders.

When the job was wrapped up, an 18-foot-deep channel that was 300 feet wide and more than 3 miles long provided an easy entrance to the Canadian canal system of the St. Lawrence River.

"In all his work, so vast that one must see it to have any realization of its scope, it must be remembered that thousands of men, skilled and unskilled laborers, have been employed by Mr. Cleveland," the Times account said.

"Men of all nationalities seeking employment have found him, and it is to the credit of an employer that while strikes have been raging ... Mr. Cleveland has never had any strikes or labor troubles of any kind."

By this time he had moved to Monroe County, settling in 1884 in Brockport. But he was spending as much time in Canada as at home — so much so, a Brockport paper reported, that "he telephoned his family each evening at an expense of $1.62. This was regarded at the time as the height of extravagance by the townspeople."

Two younger brothers, Stephen R. and Milo L. Cleveland, worked with him on the Welland projects. Milo was also an engineer, and Stephen was given the position of paymaster.

They were the sons of Philander and Mercy Richardson Cleveland, and claimed kinship to their contemporary president of the United States, Grover Cleveland.

A sister, Flora, was the youngest in their family.

Their ancestry was traced to Moses Cleveland, who came from Ipswich, England, in 1635, landing at Plymouth Colony.

One of his descendants, Isaac Cleveland, who was born in Connecticut and fought in the Revolutionary War, was a pioneer settler of the town of Rutland. His son, Harvey, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and lost an arm in the Battle of Sackets Harbor. Harvey settled in the town of Hounsfield and was the father of Philander Cleveland.

Merritt and Milo most likely developed their engineering interests from their grandfather Harvey, who lived to see them reach their 30s. He was credited with developing the first water power on the Black River and with building the first dam in the village of Black River.

Merritt Cleveland was a native of East Hounsfield, born Aug. 27, 1849. He attended "common schools" at Hounsfield, Brownville and Dexter and graduated from Watertown High School.

His self-proclaimed ability to "drive stakes" won for him a job in 1870 with the civil engineering section of the Carthage, Watertown and Sackets Harbor Railroad Co. Subsequent opportunities placed him with the Clayton and Theresa Railroad and the Watertown waterworks.

He kept moving, becoming division engineer on the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad in April 1872, and then, a year later, assuming charge of the construction of the Kingston and Pembroke Railroad in Canada.

In July 1874, a month away from his 25th birthday, he entered into his first partnership, forming Hunter and Cleveland, railroad contractors. Settling down for the time being in Sodus, he was married in 1875 to Ellen E. Smith of that community. But his career took him away from home much of the time, with Canada a frequent destination.

He may have imagined his ancestors' pioneering adventures when he surveyed the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Northwest. His overland trip was with mules, and he traveled rivers and lakes with Indians in their canoes.

In 1882, his latest partnership of Warren and Cleveland built the Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toledo Railroad in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

While involved in Welland Canal work, he settled his family in 1884 in Brockport. He formed a new corporation in his adopted village in December 1908. As Cleveland & Sons Co., he and sons Milo L. and Harold became involved in widening sections of the Barge Canal that passed through the village.

A writer in Brockport, A.B. Elwell, offered in 1912 his recollections of the project: "I remember the work was done with very little machinery. Horses and mules were used for power in moving earth ... and more hand labor was used as wages were low and all mechanical devices costly in comparison."

The company also directed construction of a building at the state normal school, now SUNY Brockport.

"It was a very modern looking building at the time," Mr. Elwell wrote. "A chapel occupied the whole of the upper story with a high ceiling and long windows. On the lower floor the primary department of the training school was located. Later the chapel was converted to a gymnasium and the ground floor to a swimming pool and lockers."

The structure no longer stands.

Work on the Barge Canal was still in progress when, on Sunday morning, May 19, 1912, Merritt Cleveland was fatally stricken with a heart attack while working in the barn on his Adams Street property in Brockport. He was 62.

Mr. Cleveland was a man whose "quiet demeanor and unassuming character, simple home life and regard for his family gave little idea of ... the brilliance of mind of the man," Mr. Elwell wrote. "No man of the village was more highly regarded."

The writer added, "He was ever watchful of every detail of his business and all indications pointing toward prosperity. He gained wealth, but it was not alone the goal for which he was striving, for he belonged to that class of representative American citizens who promote the general prosperity."

Besides his wife, sons and siblings, Mr. Cleveland was survived by two daughters, Mrs. Richard O. Marsh, Warsaw, Ill., and Florence Cleveland, Brockport.

His body was returned to Watertown for burial in Brookside Cemetery.

Among his memberships was listed Watertown's Black River Valley Club.

Milo L. Cleveland was the first of Merritt's surviving siblings to die. A resident of 314 TenEyck St., he had been paralyzed for several months after suffering a stroke and died at age 61 in September 1912. Like his older brother, he was a builder of railroads, but there were also stone arch bridges that he designed at Antwerp, Madrid and Louisville. In 1881, he built the Watertown waterworks.

He was survived by his wife, Lucy, and a daughter, Carrie Ives.

Stephen R. Cleveland, who lived at 261 TenEyck St., was 68 when he died in July 1922. He spent much of his life in banking, serving as president of Watertown National Bank, director of Northern New York Trust Co. and as a trustee of Jefferson County Savings Bank. He was also president of Eager Electric Co. in Watertown.

Among survivors were his wife, Emma, a son, Lou, and a daughter, Korleen Cooper.

Flora Cleveland, who had founded a public library at East Hounsfield, was 72 when she died in November 1939.

Information about the Cleveland ancestry was found in the obituary of Flora Cleveland, John Haddock's history of the town of Hounsfield, and "Genealogical and Family History of the County of Jefferson New York" compiled by Rensselaer A. Oakes. Assistance in obtaining newspaper material in Brockport was provided by Kathleen Smith-Kutolowski, retired history professor at SUNY Brockport.