were the superhighways of early Nineteenth Century America. Canal promoters saw them as the key to a permanently upward spiraling economy. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both big boosters of canals, envisioning them as a system of routes which would link all parts of the United States together. They would make travel across the United States easier than ever, and would give the farm and industrial products of the newly opening West convenient access to markets in the East.
When the Treaty of Paradise Springs, negotiated between the Miami Nation and the U S Government, was signed in Wabash, Indiana, in 1826, it cede the major part of the land then held by the Miami Nation to the U S Government, and specifically allowed for the passage of the Wabash and Erie Canal over any lands still owned by the Miami. The Wabash and Erie Canal was seen as the key to opening northern Indiana, and, indeed, the entire midwest, to settlement.
Congress
passed legislation for building the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1827. The
first shovelful of dirt was turned in 1832 and the first section of the
canal, linking Fort Wayne with Huntington, was completed in 1835. The first
canal boat, the
Originally, the canal was to be just a link between the Maumee River, which emptied into Lake Erie at Toledo, and the head of navigation on the Wabash River at the Forks of the Wabash in Huntington. However, before the first section was completed, the builders realized that the Wabash was not really navigable above Lafayette, and so the canal was extended west, reaching the Tippecanoe River just above Lafayette in 1839. At the same time, it was becoming clear that the Maumee River did not provide a reliable route east of Fort Wayne, so in 1842 construction was begun on a canal route east. In 1844 the link between Fort Wayne and the Ohio Canal was completed.
In the West, promoters were pressing for an extension of the canal all the way to the Ohio River, and in 1853 it reached Evansville. When completed, the Wabash and Erie Canal extended 468 miles, the longest man-made waterway in the Western Hemisphere. It was truely an extraordinary achievement, and one which had far-reaching consequences for Indiana and the Midwest. It provided easy and rapid travel for incoming settlers, and a convenient way for moving their agricultural and other products back to the more populous east. It was the most important factor in settling northern Indiana and therefore in the pressures which resulted in the removal of the Miami Nation to Oklahoma.
By the time the canal was completed in 1853, its fate was already clear to Indiana's more far-seeing citizens. The railroad was moving west, steadily covering the state with tracks, and the canal could not long survive against the flexibility, efficiency and higher speeds of the railroad. In 1860, after only a few years of use, the southern part of the canal was abandoned. The first section built was also the last section to be abandoned, but in 1874 the last canal boat docked in Huntington. By 1876 all hope of reviving the canal was given up, and the 468 mile long ditch was left to the mosquitoes, the tales of canal boat captains, and the nostalgic world of song.
For a very detailed look at the Wabash and Erie Canal in Huntington County, see the excellent Web site which Terry Pepper of Roanoke has prepared.