Wills Creek At Cambridge

Stories of Guernsey County by Wm. Wolfe Page 699-700

Wills Creek

     Excepting parts of two or three townships all of Guernsey county is drained by Wills Creek.  It enters the southeastern part of the county from Noble county, takes a tortuous course through Richland, Valley, Jackson, Cambridge, Liberty and Wheeling townships and passes into Coshocton county where it joins the Muskingum River.

    Why a Sluggish Stream.—Although the Ohio River is south of Guernsey county, the general direction of Wills creek is north.  It flows in a direction opposite to that which might be expected, and it may be this accounts for its little fall of scarcely one foot to the mile, which makes it a sluggish stream.  Its bottom, for the greater part, is clay and its course is meandering.  Choked with driftwood and rubbish, it frequently overflows its banks.

     Origin of Name.—The men who cut Zane’s Trace through Guernsey county reached Wills creek where Cambridge now stands.  This was the first stream they had found along the trail they were blazing, that could not be forded.  A ferry was established near the place where the viaduct now crosses Wills creek, and a man by the name of Ezra Graham, who had built his cabin there, was put in charge.

     The Zane family of Wheeling received a contract from the government to open a road from that place to Limestone in Kentucky.  This family had originally come from Maryland, their home having been on the Wills river, a tributary of the Potomac.  It was they who gave the newly found stream the name of Wills Creek.  Its upper course, however, is called Seneca creek.  In early days an oil would gather on the top of the water in the creek, having oozed from springs nearby.  This was collected by spreading cloths on the water, from which the oil was wrung and then used for medicinal purposes.  It was found to be the same as Seneca oil produced in New York State and named for an Indian tribe.  Seneca was the name given to that part of the stream and as such it is yet known to many.

     Buffalo creek empties into Wills creek near Derwent; Leatherwood and Crooked creeks, at or near Cambridge; and Salt Fork creek near Tyner.  All these creeks have more fall than Wills creek and the bottom lands through which they flow are less subject to inundation.

     Navigation on Wills Creek.—Before good roads and railroads were built through the county, it was a difficult task to transport farm products to market.  Thomas Sarchet, Sr. conceived the idea of navigation Wills creek and in 1826 he constructed a boat seventy feet long and eighteen feet wide, with a water depth of three feet.  The sides were boarded up to a height of eight feet and a roof placed over forty feet of the boat.  The name given the freighter was “Eliza of Guernsey.”

     It left Cambridge about noon on April 8, with a cargo of wheat, flour and salt, the flour and salt being in barrels.   The crew consisted of Captain R.M.G. Patterson, who was in command, and Thomas Sarchet, Sr., and sons.  Two days later the boat reached the mouth of Wills creek without an accident.  It arrived at Zanesville the next night.  Three and one-half days were required to transport a cargo of wheat, flour and salt from Cambridge to Zanesville.  The same freight could now be transported by truck in one hour.

     In 1843, Dr. Samuel Hunt, who resided on Wheeling avenue, Cambridge, decided to locate in Butler county, Ohio.  His plan was to make the journey by water, taking his family and household goods with him.  A flat boat was built and the spring rise of the waters of Wills creek was awaited.  As it was a dry spring, the creek did not rise, so Dr. Hunt loaded his boat on a low-wheeled wagon, moved it over to Zanesville, and started from there.

     At different times attempts were made by others to utilize Wills creek as a transportation route, but shipping on its waters was never engaged in extensively.  The winding course of the stream, the accumulation of driftwood and rubbish here and there, and the low stage of water at certain seasons of the year made its navigation impracticable.  Wills creek has served the one main purpose of draining Guernsey county.