Wabash and Erie Canal

Wabash and Erie Canal
A restored section of canal in Delphi, Indiana
Indiana Register of Historic Sites

The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 460 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America.

The canal known as the Wabash & Erie in the 1850s and thereafter, was actually a combination of four canals: the Miami and Erie Canal from the Maumee River near Toledo, Ohio to Junction, Ohio, the original Wabash and Erie Canal from Junction to Terre Haute, Indiana, the Cross Cut Canal from Terre Haute, Indiana to Worthington, Indiana (Point Commerce), and the Central Canal from Worthington to Evansville, Indiana.

The United States Congress provided a land grant on March 2, 1827 for the canal's construction. On January 5, 1828, the Indiana General Assembly accepted the grant and appointed three commissioners. These commissioners concluded that the canal would have to extend into Ohio and petitioned that state to appoint a commission of their own. The state legislature approved the plan and new commissioners appointed. After several legislative battles begun by proponents of the railroad, the Indiana General Assembly approved the borrowing of $200,000 to begin construction. February 22, 1832 ground was broken and construction began. Construction of the canal reached Logansport by 1837.

The Panic of 1837 devastated Indiana's program of internal improvements, but did not stop construction entirely. The canal reached Lafayette by 1843, Terre Haute by 1848 and Evansville by 1853. During the summer of 1991, the Gronauer Lock was uncovered at New Haven, Indiana, during the construction of I-469. This is the only intact wooden timber lock discovered. Part of the Gronauer Lock is now on display at the Indiana State Museum.