On November 12, 1852, the riverboat Buckeye Belle exploded at this site, killing twenty-four people and injuring a dozen in the worst steamboat disaster on the Muskingum River. An eyewitness said, “The bank of the canal was covered with dead and mutilated bodies and fragments of the boat and cargo.” Boiler explosions were a hazard of steamboat travel, but the safety record on the Muskingum River was good. Only two other riverboat explosions are recorded on the Muskingum River: the Newark blew-up in 1847 at Rokeby, killing four, and the L.C. McCormick exploded in 1879 south of Beverly, killing one.