Miami and Erie Canal

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The General Harrison of Piqua canal boat in the Piqua, Ohio Historical Area. This photo shows the captain steering the canal boat and the donkey/burro pulling the boat along the Miami-Erie Canal. The canal is wide enough to permit two boats to pass. The photo was taken July 9th, 2006.
The General Harrison of Piqua canal boat in the Piqua, Ohio Historical Area. This photo shows the captain steering the canal boat and the donkey/burro pulling the boat along the Miami-Erie Canal. The canal is wide enough to permit two boats to pass. The photo was taken July 9th, 2006.

The Miami and Erie Canal was a canal that connected the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio with Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio. It consisted of 19 aqueducts, three guard locks, and 103 canal locks. Each lock measured 90 feet by 15 feet and they collectively raised the canal 395 feet above Lake Erie and 513 feet above the Ohio River. The peak of the canal was called the Loramie Summit and extended 19 miles between New Bremen, Ohio to lock 1-S in Lockington, north of Piqua, Ohio. The system consisted of 301.49 miles of canal channel and was completed at a cost of $8,062,680.07 in 1845. Boats were towed along the canal using either donkeys or horses walking on a prepared towpath along the bank. The boats typically traveled at a rate of four to five miles per hour.

An interesting topographical map showing the geography, path, and elevations of the entire canal is located in the Heritage Museum[1] located in the building housing the Shrine of the Holy Relics in Maria Stein, Ohio, a community located 6 miles from the canal and just south of Grand Lake St. Marys.

Grand Lake St. Marys, an artificial lake west of St. Marys, Ohio was originally constructed as a reservoir to supply water for the canal. Lake Loramie in Shelby County also was constructed as a reservoir for the canal. Indian Lake in Logan County was greatly enlarged to provide a steadier supply of water for the Sidney feeder. All three lakes are still used for recreation.

A branch canal was constructed from the Miami and Erie Canal from Middletown, Ohio to Lebanon, Ohio, called the Warren County Canal. This branch was opened in 1840, but operable for less than 15 years before being abandoned.

A short branch, the Sidney or Port Jefferson feeder canal ran up the Miami valley from Lockington through Sidney to a dam just upstream from Port Jefferson.

Much of the Canal corridor remains a prosperous manufacturing area, with Interstate 75 and railroads providing the transportation rather than the canal.

Contents

[edit] Construction standards

NOTE: Standards varied by region of the state.

  • 4 ft. water depth.
  • 40 ft. wide at water level.
  • 10 ft. wide towpath in addition to mandated outer slopes.
  • All slopes are 4½ ft. horizontal to 4 ft. perpendicular.
  • The canal could handle boats up to 32 ft. long and 14 ft. wide.

[edit] Decline and abandonment

Completed just before most of the railroads in Ohio were built, the canal competed with railroads through much of its useful life. Ice in the winter, as well as the slowness of the boats, made it less efficient than railroads, and by 1906, the canal had largely ceased to operate. A catastrophic flood of the Great Miami River in 1913 and the subsequent flood control measures constructed by the Miami Conservancy District destroyed much of the canal infrastructure along the southern portion of the route where it paralleled the Great Miami River.

One of the original locks (#17) is located in the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio. An unrestored, but complete lock is located just off Main Street (State Route 571) in Tipp City. Remains of the Excello lock are still located in the Butler County Excello Locks Park near the intersection of State Route 73 and South Hamilton Middletown Road in Lemon Township.

Much of the original towpath served as the right-of-way for the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad, an electric interurban streetcar that operated until 1940. Part of the right-of-way was converted to the Wright-Lockland Highway (now part of Interstate 75). [2]

From 1920 to 1925 six million dollars was spent to use the bed of the canal to build a downtown subway in Cincinnati. The surface was paved over to form Central Parkway. Funds ran out before the Cincinnati Subway was completed.

[edit] Where to see the canal

Urban redevelopment has eliminated the beginnings and ends of the canal. However, on the canal's south end there is a drained section located in St. Bernard, Ohio's Ludlow Park where the canal bed is still visible. The canal remains watered (and theoretically navigable for canoes or kayaks) in the rural region between Delphos, Ohio and St. Marys, Ohio. South of St. Mary's, it has degraded to form a shallow ditch in most places, though some ruined locks remain. Driving from north to south along Ohio Route 66, one sees pieces of the original canal in Delphos, at a small historic park located at the "Deep Cut," in St. Marys, OH, Lock Two (a hamlet mostly consisting of period brick buildings), New Bremen, OH, Minster, Ohio, Ft Loramie, Ohio, and Piqua, Ohio. Perhaps the most interesting is the Piqua Historical Area[3] where there is a replica canal boat and other canal-related items. The Delphos Canal Commission also has a canal museum located on Main Street.

In addition, visitors to Providence Metropark, near Grand Rapids in the northwest part of the state, are able to ride a replica canal boat as it goes through lock number 44. Lock 44 is an original Miami and Erie canal lock and Providence Metropark is the only place in Ohio in which visitors are able to travel completely through a functioning canal lock. [4]Other sites of interest are listed.[5],[6]

The northern portion of the towpath (from Fort Laramie to Delphos and beyond) is used as a hiking trail. [7]

[edit] Cities and towns along the canal

The following is a list of towns and cities (arranged North to South) along the Miami and Erie Canal.

[edit] External links

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