Around 1870, Detroit industrialist Eber Brock Ward built Ward's Canal in what was then Oregon Township, Lucas County, to utilize the area's rich timber stands. The canal stretched approximately 234 miles through wetlands to Lake Erie, carrying timber sawn at Ward's mills and ships from his boatyards. Two settlements, Shepherdsville, renamed Bono in 1898, and New Jerusalem, formed to house workers. Residents from eastern Oregon Township later petitioned to create Jerusalem Township in 1893. After Ward, sawmills and stave-makers continued harvesting timber until a disastrous fire ended commercial lumbering in 1895. Around 1900, Howard Farms bought Ward land to grow onions and other crops and used the canal to drain wetlands. Commercial fisheries also operated there, including one that harvested sturgeons eggs for caviar. Approximately 150 years after Ward built the canal, the area features a yacht club, marina, and boat launches, and draws anglers and bird watchers to restored wetlands.