American
Navigable Canal Itineraries
Illinois
and Michigan, Wabash and Erie, Erie Canal, Delaware and Hudson, Chesapeake and
Ohio, Chesapeake and Delaware
European and English canal systems proved the feasibility of inland waterway
transport and provided fine examples to be improved upon. As the need for improved inland
transportation became obvious for westward expansion, America plunged into an era
of canal building activity.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Mississippi and Great Lakes Basins. making
agriculture in northern Illinois profitable by opening-up connections to eastern markets and leading to the creation of Chicago. Chicago was the eastern and LaSalle the western terminus with the latter becoming a transshipment point from canal boats originating in Chicago to steamboats heading for St Louis and New Orleans.
agriculture in northern Illinois profitable by opening-up connections to eastern markets and leading to the creation of Chicago. Chicago was the eastern and LaSalle the western terminus with the latter becoming a transshipment point from canal boats originating in Chicago to steamboats heading for St Louis and New Orleans.
A Cultural
Meeting Point between North and South
Canal and Steamboat basins were located at locks 14 and 15 with New Orleans steamboats unloading
molasses, sugar, coffee, fresh oranges and lemons whereas the Chicago cargo
included lumber, stoves, wagons, and the latest clothing styles from the east.
Mastery of
the American Mid-Continent
The Wabash and Erie Canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River;
460 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America. The
waterway was a combination of four canals: the Miami and Erie, the original Wabash and Erie from Junction to Terre
Haute, Indiana, the Cross-Cut Canal from Terre Haute to Point Commerce, and the
Central Canal from Worthington to Evansville.
The Wabash & Erie Canal Association is dedicated to Indiana's canal heritage. The center serves as a
physical focus of a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) segment of the canal that has been
rebuilt and reopened as a waterway and parallel towpath.
Syracuse New York and the Erie Canal
Museum Syracuse stands at the northeast corner
of the Finger Lakes region and is a city comprised of many neighborhoods which
were originally villages that joined the city over the years. Land to the north
of town is generally flat while land to the south is hilly.
A major Crossroads
for two Centuries with the Erie Canal and a Rail Network
The Erie Canal Museum is dedicated to preserving the 1850 National Register Weigh Lock
Building, the last remaining structure of its kind, and to telling the incredible
adventure story of the Erie Canal. The collections of the Erie Canal Museum consist of nearly 60,000 artifacts, covering
a wide variety of items reflecting the culture of the 19th and early 20th
centuries in upstate New York.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal a British blockade preceding the War of 1812, which cut off the
supply of imported bituminous coal, led to the commercial development of Pennsylvania’s
anthracite coal fields. The 108-mile 108-lock waterway operated from
1828 until 1898 transforming the economic landscape, as towns and villages
sprang up along its route, and industries developed to exploit local resources
such as lumber, agricultural products, and bluestone.
The D&H Canal Historical Society maintains a Canal Museum and Five Locks Walk trail to preserve
canal-era artifacts, and document the canal’s creation, operation, and
importance as an engine of economic development in the region and beyond.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac from Washington,
D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland. Construction on the 184.5-mile (296.9 km)
course began in 1828 and ended in 1850 with the completion of a 50-mile stretch
to Cumberland, rising and falling over an
elevation change of 605 feet (184 meters) that required 74 locks. In 1938, the abandoned canal was obtained by the United States and is now the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal national historic park.
elevation change of 605 feet (184 meters) that required 74 locks. In 1938, the abandoned canal was obtained by the United States and is now the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal national historic park.
Boatmen and their families were an independent lot often intermarrying within their own group.
They frequently fought amongst each other and with lockkeepers over company
rules. During winter when the boats were tied up, they lived in their own
communities away from others. One boat captain observed that on the canal,
women and children were as good as the men.
The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal is 14 miles long, 450 feet wide and 35 feet deep across Maryland and
Delaware, connecting the Delaware River with Chesapeake Bay. The C&D Canal
is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia
District, and is the sole major commercial navigation waterway in the United
States built during the early 1800s still in use.
The C&D Canal Museum in Chesapeake City provides visitors with a glimpse of the canal’s
early days. The steam engines are the oldest of their type in America still on
their original foundations.
The Delaware City Historic District is significant for its architecture, for its beginnings as a planned
settlement, and for its importance as a nineteenth century canal-oriented
transportation center. The town was envisioned by its backers as a place that would develop into a major shipping
and trading point for traffic that passed along this trans-peninsular trade
route, and so, its early plans were based on the completion of the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal.
