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Indiana HistorianTheA Magazine Exploring Indiana History

Canal Mania in Indiana

2 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1997The Indiana Historian, June 1997

Focus

The Indiana HistorianJune 1997

ISSN 1071-3301

EditorPamela J. Bennett

Lead ResearcherPaula A. Bongen

DesignerDani B. Pfaff

Contributing EditorsCarole M. Allen, Janine Beckley,

Alan Conant, Dani B. Pfaff,Virginia Terpening

The Indiana Historian provides re-sources and models for the study of localhistory to encourage Indiana’s citizens ofall ages to become engaged with the his-tory of their communities and the state ofIndiana.

The Indiana Historian (formerly TheIndiana Junior Historian) is issued quar-terly from September through June.

It is a membership benefit of the Indi-ana Junior Historical Society. One compli-mentary subscription is provided to Indi-ana libraries, school media centers, andcultural and historical organizations.

Annual subscriptions are available for$5.00 plus tax. Back issues are availableat individual and bulk pricing.

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The Indiana Historian is copyrighted.Educators may reproduce items for classuse, but no part of the publication may bereproduced in any way for profit withoutwritten permission of the Indiana Histori-cal Bureau.

This issue and the next—September 1997—focus on Indi-ana canals of the nineteenthcentury. This issue providesgeneral background about canalsand internal improvements. Itfocuses on what travel on a canalboat was like and the economiceffects of canals. The Septemberissue will focus on how canalswere constructed.

On page 3 is a map demon-strating the long interest in canalbuilding in Indiana, from 1805through 1915.

On pages 4 and 5, there arebrief overviews of Indiana’s inter-nal improvements efforts andcanals in Indiana and nationally.Space has limited coverage to theWabash and Erie Canal and theWhitewater Canal.

Two personal narratives arethen used (pages 6-9) to demon-strate what it was like to travel bycanal boat in Indiana in 1851.Both accounts describe travel onthe Wabash and Erie Canal, buttravel on other canals would havebeen similar.

The economic impact ofcanals is then discussed (pages10-13). The interview of a

Whitewater Canal boat captain—who played an important part inthe economy—demonstrates alsothe enthusiasm and spirit of thecanal era.

The spirit of that era iscontinued in the present-dayorganizations and people whostudy and commemorate canals.The Canal Society of Indiana hasbeen helpful in our quest formaterials. Paul Baudendistel, aresident of Metamora on theWhitewater Canal, has beeninvaluable. Baudendistel’s longinvolvement with the canal is thesubject of “Behind the Scenes” onpage 14.

As usual, a selection ofresources is available on page 15.

We hope that this issue willhelp to interest more people in thecanal heritage of Indiana. Stu-dents and others should investi-gate the effect of canals in theirown areas. They should then addthis information to the resourcesavailable at both the local andstate level as a result of thoseinvestigations. There is still muchto be learned about canals inIndiana, and every reader cancontribute.

• Examine the map on page 3. Areany of the canals near your loca-tion? What is the closest canal—orproposed canal—to you? See whatyou can find in local history sourcesabout the canal in your area.

• Investigate the Central Canal. Howhas that canal been used in therecent past?

• The eight projects of the 1836 In-ternal Improvements Act (listed onpage 4) reached all areas of Indi-ana. What was planned for yourarea? Was the project ever com-pleted? What results of this act canbe located on an Indiana map to-day?

• There are many historical markersin Indiana about the canals andtransportation. Locate any nearyou. If there are none, investigate

acquiring a marker through the In-diana Historical Bureau.

• Railroads took the place of canalsas the best means of transporta-tion. Are railroads still the primarymeans of transportation? What hastaken their place and why? Whatwater transportation is an impor-tant economic factor in Indiana to-day?

• Throughout this issue, there areillustrations from a newspaper, theBrookville Indiana American fromthe 1840s. Does your area have anewspaper that goes back to thenineteenth century? What was go-ing on in your area at that time?What subjects were frequently cov-ered? What sorts of advertisementsappeared?

You be the historian

Cover illustration: A canal wedding,May 16, 1872, at Attica on the Wabashand Erie Canal.Indiana Historical Society Library(Negative No. A131).

© Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1997 3The Indiana Historian, June 1997

IndianaCanals

Kankakee River

Tipp

ecan

oe

River

Maumee River

Mississinewa

River

Wab

ash

Riv

er

White River

River

East ForkW

hite

Riv

er

White

West Fork

Whitewater

River

Ohio River

St. Joseph River(of the Lake)

1

2

3

45

6

6a

6b

6c

6d

3a

3b

Lake

Porter

La Porte

St. JosephElkhart

Lagrange Steuben

Dekalb

Noble

Kosciusko

MarshallStarke

Pulaski

Jasper Newton

Fulton

Whitley Allen

Benton

White

Cass

Miami

Wabash

Huntington

Wells Adams

Jay

BlackfordHowardCarroll

Clinton

Tippecanoe

Grant

Warren

Fountain Montgomery

Boone

Tipton

Hamilton

Madison Delaware

Randolph

WayneHenry

Hancock

Marion

Hendricks

Putnam

Parke

Ver

mill

ion

Vigo

Clay

Owen

Morgan

Johnson

Shelby

Rush

Fay

ette Union

Franklin

Decatur

Bartholomew

Brown

Monroe

Greene

Sullivan

Knox

Daviess

Martin

Lawrence

Jackson

Jennings

Ripley

Dearborn

Ohio

Switzerland

Jefferson

Scott

Clark

Washington

Orange

Floyd

Harrison

Crawford

Perry

Spencer

DuboisPikeGibson

Warrick

Vanderburgh

Posey

SouthBend

Elkhart

Goshen

RomeCity

Fort Wayne

Huntington

Wabash

PeruLogansport

Delphi

Lafayette

Attica

Covington

Montezuma

Terre Haute

Worthington

Bloomfield

Washington

Petersburg

Oakland City

Evansville

New Albany

Jeffersonville

Lawrenceburg

Cincinnati

BrookvilleMetamora

Laurel

Connersville

RichmondCambridge City

Hagerstown

Marion

Muncie

AndersonNoblesville

Indianapolis

Martinsville

Spencer

MichiganCity

Gary

Canal construction completedSome construction,

but never completedSurveys made,no other action

Complete documentation for this map isavailable from the Indiana Historical Bureau.

1805 - 19151 Ohio Falls Canal—toprovide passage aroundthe Falls of the Ohio, 1805,1816.

2 Wabash and ErieCanal—to connect LakeErie with the Ohio Riverthrough the Wabash Valley,1827.

3 Whitewater Canal—toconnect Whitewater Valleywith the Ohio River, 1833,1836.3a , 3b . Surveys, 1825, 1837 ofproposed routes for Whitewater Canal.

4 Richmond andBrookville Canal—toconnect Richmond toWhitewater Canal, 1837.

5 Central Canal—toconnect Wabash River withOhio River at Evansville,1836.

6 Erie and MichiganCanal—linking Wabash andErie Canal with LakeMichigan, 1836.6a - 6d . Surveys completed to linkLake Michigan and Wabash Valley,1829, 1830, 1876, 1915.


Opening IndianaIn the early nineteenth

century, in Indiana—as in the restof the existing United States—travel was accomplished on foot orhorseback, in wagons pulled byanimals, or by water. Since road-ways were quite primitive, waterwas the preferred means of travelwhen possible.

As early as 1805, there wasinterest in improving water trans-portation in the Indiana Territory.The territorial legislature char-tered a company to build a canalaround the falls in the Ohio Rivernear Jeffersonville. No Indianacanal was built there. Kentuckylater built a canal on its side ofthe falls.

New York’s very successfulErie Canal was started in 1817and finished in 1825. It providedthe impetus and the model forcanal building that erupted in thenineteenth century from the eastcoast to Illinois.

Indiana’s canal buildingstarted with the Wabash and ErieCanal at Fort Wayne in 1832. Thiscanal was enabled by a federalgrant of land in 1827 following a

treaty with theMiamis andPotawatomis in1826.

Passage by theGeneral Assemblyin 1836 of “An Actto provide for ageneral system ofInternal Improve-ments” marks thestate’s furthercommitment toopening Indiana forexpanded trade andtravel.

The 1836 law provided foreight projects to construct roads,canals, and railroads throughoutthe state. See the chart on thispage.

This 1836 law resulted infinancial disaster for Indiana.Construction on projects wasstopped in 1839; the state wasunable to pay interest on its debtin 1841. Paul Fatout has assertedthat the system “was conceived inmadness and nourished bydelusion” (76). The many reasonsfor the failures are too complex todiscuss here.

As a result of the experience,Indiana’s 1851 Constitutionprohibits the state from going intodebt. During the debates at the1850 constitutional convention,Judge David Kilgore, who votedfor the 1836 bill in the legislature,noted in part what went wrong:

It never entered into the minds ofthose who voted for the bill directingthose surveys that all the public works . . .should be carried on simultaneously.We sent out engineers, chain-bearers,and workers, to get useful informationof different routes and localities uponwhich to base a good and practicalsystem of internal improvements. But,sir, the very fact that those surveyswere made . . . made the people lose

1 Erie Canal, 2 Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, 3 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 4 James Riverand Kanawha Canal, 5 Ohio and Erie Canal, 6 Miami and Erie Canal, 7 Wabash and Erie Canal,8 Whitewater Canal, 9 Louisville and Portland Canal, 10 Illinois and Michigan Canal

Adapted from:Taylor, 35.

1

2

3

4

567

8

9

10

Richmond

Principal CanalsBuilt by 1860

St. Louis

Chicago

Fort Wayne

Louisville

Cincinnati

Toledo

Buffalo

Pittsburgh

Baltimore

Philadelphia

New York City

Albany

their mental balance; everyneighborhood became so intoxicatedwith the idea that a railroad or canalwas to pass near it, that the peoplebecame mad, as it were, and wereunable to judge. Report of theDebates and Proceedings of theConvention for the Revision of theConstitution of the State of Indiana,1850 (Indianapolis, 1850), 677.

As James H. Madison con-cludes, “Simultaneous construc-tion . . . began on many dispersedsegments: when it was halted thestate was left with bits and piecesof ‘scatteration,’ rather than anysingle completed project” (86).

The fact remains that Indi-ana committed in 1836 toprojects that would connect it, itspeople, and its products to therest of the country and the world.Remnants of those projects arepart of Indiana’s landscape today.

Madison has a kinder as-sessment of those early pioneers:

The generation that appropriated tenmillion dollars to revolutionizetransportation at a time when thestate’s annual revenues averagedless than $75,000 took a risk. Theylost, and looked foolish in the end, butonly in the end. At the outset onemust appreciate the forward-lookingoptimism, the belief in progress, theintense desire to lift Indiana out of themud and leave behind the isolation ofpioneer life (85).

1. The Whitewater Canal, $1,400,0002. The Central Canal, $3,500,0003. Wabash and Erie Canal, $1,300,0004. Madison to Lafayette Railroad,

$1,300,0005. New Albany to Vincennes macad-

amized road, $1,150,0006. Jeffersonville to Crawfordsville rail-

road or macadamized turnpike,$1,300,000

7. Removal of obstructions in WabashRiver, $50,000

8. Survey for Fort Wayne to MichiganCity canal or railroad, no appropriation

Projects and Appropriationsin Indiana’s 1836 Internal

Improvements Bill(see map on page 3 for canals)


Indiana’s canalsMost references to Indiana’s

canal era emphasize the failures.The canal era and canals, how-ever, need to be studied as “a oncevital dimension in the growth ofthe Old Northwest.” Canals con-tributed “agricultural expansionand the export of agriculturalsurpluses, the import of easternmerchandise, and economicdiversification towards manufac-turing and commerce” (Shaw, 107,105).

In Indiana,the two . . . canals which were

completed and in operation for sometwenty to forty years—the Whitewaterand the Wabash and Erie canals—hada positive impact upon their regions,served to stimulate agricultural andurban growth, and helped develop thetowns, the millsites, the population, andthe trade which the railroads of a latertime dominated so completely. Gray,129.

The 468-mile-long Wabashand Erie Canal was the longestcanal in the country. It connectedLake Erie at Toledo with the OhioRiver at Evansville in 1853. It wasbegun in 1832 at Fort Wayne, andcrossed through Peru (1837),Lafayette (1843), and Terre Haute(1849). It cost approximately$8,200,000.

After 1841, Indiana could notpay the interest on its canal andinternal improvements bonds—many of which had been pur-chased by people in foreign coun-tries. Work on the Wabash andErie Canal continued because ofmore grants from the federalgovernment of land to sell. Bond-holders, under the leadership ofattorney Charles Butler, sup-ported continued operation andcompletion of the canal undertrustees to recoup some of theirmoney. There were periods whenthe canal was profitable. Floods,

vandalism, and railroads (whichwere built along the canal routes)finally caused closure of the canalin 1874.

The Whitewater Canal in theWhitewater Valley of southeasternIndiana eventually extended fromCincinnati, Ohio to Hagerstown,Indiana. The canal was proposedin 1825. Progress was first madewith the incorporation of theWhitewater Canal Company in1826. Much of the canal wascompleted through the efforts ofprivate citizens who organized intoconstruction companies. Explorethe timeline in this issue forevents of its progress.

After the Whitewater Canalceased operations in 1865,

. . . it continued to serve a numberof mills and, on the section betweenMilton and Connersville, to develophydro-electric power for almost acentury thereafter. . . . the canal had along history and a long term ofspasmodic usefulness. . . . Among theearliest in Indiana, they [canalsupporters of the Whitewater Valley]were also foremost in determination, intenacity, and in blind courage. Fatout,156.

The map on page 4 demon-strates that canals were an impor-tant step in the process of con-necting the areas of the UnitedStates. As Shaw notes, “the cost oftransportation fell dramaticallyfrom more than ten cents per tonmile to as little as a cent; a canalnetwork of 3,326 miles was builtby 1840 at a cost of more than$125 million, and the way wasopened for the railroad to follow”(100).

Indiana’s late entry into thecanal era, in hindsight, doomedits efforts. New York, Pennsylva-nia, and Ohio had built over 1,000total miles of successful canals by1830. In 1830, only Pennsylvania

(seventy miles) and Massachusetts(three miles) had built railroads.By 1840 in all states, the completemileage of canals was nearly equalto the complete miles of railroads.By 1850, the complete railroadmiles were roughly two and one-half times the canals. By 1860,the complete railroad miles wereroughly eight times the canals.The canal era had given way torailroads (Taylor, 79-80).

Canals were expensive. Mostwere possible only with govern-mental support from states. Manywere possible only because theU.S. Congress granted public landthat could be sold to supportconstruction. The concept of suchpublic support for internal im-provements has continued to thepresent day, for example, with theinterstate highway system.

Rochester, later Cedar Grove, FranklinCounty, is typical of towns that prospered or

were founded because of canal construction.Carefully read the advertisement. What othertransportation advantage did the town offer?

What were some of the canal-relatedbusinesses?

Bro

okvi

l le

Ind

ian

a A

mer

ica

n,

Au

gust

2,

1844.


Ind

ian

a Ti

mel

ine

Oth

er E

ven

ts in

His

tory

1787

1789

1800

1800

1802

1803 1805

MichiganTerritoryestablished.(Barnhart and Riker, 337)

Ohio becomesseventeenth state.

(Carruth, 74)

Indiana Territoryestablished.(Barnhart and Riker, 311-12) Lawrenceburg platted.

(Garman, 133)

Constructioncompleted on “firsttrue canal” in U.S.connecting Santeeand Cooper riversin South Carolina.(Carruth, 71)

Fort Washingtonestablished on Ohio

River; adjoining villagelater named Cincinnati.

(Garman, 133)

U.S. CongressestablishesNorthwest Territory.(Barnhart and Riker,266-71)

NorthwestTerritory

1787

Adapted from: George Pence and Nellie C.Armstrong, Indiana Boundaries (Indianapolis:

Indiana Historical Bureau, 1967 reprint), 137.

Indiana author MauriceThompson in his 1898 workStories of Indiana, noted that“Many old people now living re-member the peculiar experiencesof voyaging on board a canal boat”(217). Thompson presented thefollowing summary:

The canal boat was a long, low,narrow structure built for carrying bothpassengers and freight. Its cabin andsleeping berths were of the mostprimitive description, ill-ventilated anddimly lighted. The boat looked like anelongated floating house, the height ofwhich had been decreased by somegreat pressure. It was drawn by one ortwo horses hitched to a long ropeattached to the bow of the boat. Thehorses walked on a path, called thetowpath, at the side of the canal, andwere driven by a man or boy, whosometimes rode, sometimes walked.The boat had a rudder with which apilot kept it in its proper place while itcrept along like a great lazy turtle onthe still water. Surely there never wassleepier mode of travel. Thompson,Stories of Indiana (New York: AmericanBook Company, 1898), 217-18.

As the boat diagramsthroughout this issue illustrate,the construction of canal boatsvaried. The dimensions werelimited by the standard lock size ofapproximately fifteen feet wide byninety feet long. Locks on theWhitewater Canal varied in size.As with every mode of travel,passengers (many thousands) whotraveled on these boats had differ-

Canal travel

ent reactions to the speed—reports vary from three to eightmiles per hour—and the comfort.Overall, however,

Compared to stage or wagon, canalboat travel was smooth, seemedeffortless, and the close banks or forestenhanced the sense of speed. Day andnight travel changed the concept ofdistance. Shaw, 106.

A 1912 source provides thecomparison below to prove thatcanal boats were a great benefitover stagecoaches to the traveleror business person.

. . . the round trip from Brookville toCincinnati was regularly made betweenMonday evening and Wednesdaymorning at the following expense:Passage to Cincinnati and back,including board, $4; dinner atCincinnati, fifty cents; one day lost(worth), $1; total $5.50. This amount is

thus compared with the expense of thetrip by stage, causing the loss of fourdays on account of them only runningtri-weekly, and occasioning thefollowing items of expense: Passage toCincinnati and back, $6; dinner on roadgoing and coming, seventy-five cents;fare at ordinary house for three nightsand two days, $5; four days lost(worth), $4; total $15.75; making asaving of $10.25 for one trip. HenryClay Fox, editor, Memoirs of WayneCounty . . . (Madison, WI: WesternHistorical Association, 1912), 125.

The travel accounts on thefollowing pages give two perspec-tives of life on a canal boat duringtrips of several days. Keep in mindhow you travel today as you readthe words of travellers written oncanal boats on the Wabash andErie Canal in 1851.

India

na H

isto

rica

l S

ocie

ty L

ibra

ry (

Neg

ati

ve N

o. C

5626).

Canal boat WilliamSpeece of Delphi on theWabash and Erie Canal.Fatout, followingpage 92.


Ind

iana T

imelin

eO

ther E

vents in

Histo

ry

1805

Indiana territorial legislature chartersIndiana Canal Company to build a canalaround the Falls of the Ohio; IndianaGeneral Assembly charters Ohio CanalCompany in 1817; canal started but notfinished.(Buley, 1:435-36)

1806

U.S. Congress providesfor road from Cumberland,Maryland to Ohio;becomes known asCumberland or NationalRoad.(Buley, 1:446-48)

Robert Fulton’ssteamboat Clermont

makes first voyagefrom New York to

Albany.(Carruth, 80)

1807

Brookville platted.(Barnhart and Riker, 420)

1808

1812

War of 1812begins; ends

in 1815.(Carruth, 86, 90-91)

Bennet Woodcroft, A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Steam Navagation,(London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly, 1848), opposite p. 60.

Engraving of the Clermont.

A Kentucky lady on the Wabash and Erie Canal, 1851Thompson quotes from a

series of letters in July 1851 by “ayoung lady of Louisville, Ken-tucky.” He does not explain theorigin or location of the lettersfrom which he quotes. Tom is herbrother. This excerpt is fromThompson, 218-23.

We went on board, by way of aboard, a gangplank, that is, and soonfound ourselves in a dark, hole-like room,where it was hard to breathe andimpossible to see plainly. . . . Wepresently went up a steep little stairwayand came out upon the top of the boat,which was already in motion,—very slowmotion, though,—and the dingy housesbegan to slide, so it looked, back to therear. A single horse pulls our vessel, andthe loutish boy who manages him has hairthat is as white as tow. It looks as thoughhe had never combed it. He chewstobacco and swears at his horse; but yethe seems good-natured, and he singsbetween oaths some very doleful hymns,alternating with love songs of a lively cast.Sometimes the horse pokes along;sometimes the boy makes it trot for ashort distance.

I am sitting on a stool on top of theboat, writing with my paper on my knee. . . .The first lock that we went through causedme to have a very queer feeling. Our boatentered a place where the sides of thecanal were walled up with logs and plank,and stopped before a gate. At the sametime a gate was closed astern of us, andthen the boat began to rise, up, up, as thefront gate was slowly opened. By thismeans we were lifted to a higher level,upon which we proceeded. But when theboat began to rise, I felt as thoughsomething dreadful was about to happen.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Base

d o

n B

au

den

dis

tel,

18.

The packet boat Swan was owned by Augustus Boden, Sr. He brought the boat to Cincinnatiin 1843. He later moved his operation to the Whitewater Canal. Baudendistel, 7. The packetboat was designed for passenger travel. It had better animals generally and moved faster

than other boats. The cost of passage on a packet boat included mealsand a “sleeping bunk” (Dunbar, 851, 861).

To-day is Sunday, and the peopleall seem to be fishing in the canal. Wehave passed hundreds of them sitting onthe banks with poles in their hands anddangling their fishhooks in the water; but Ihave seen no fish caught. . . .

The most disagreeable part of thiskind of traveling is, next after the sleeping,the eating. You know how I like goodthings to eat. . . . To get to it from thecabin I have to climb up a ladder througha hole to the top of the boat, then go downthrough another hole into a suffocatingbox. The table is horrid, so is the cooking.Pork and bread, bread and pork, thensome greasy fish, mackerel, and bittercoffee lukewarm, three times each day. Iam raving hungry all the time, and nothingfit to eat. It makes me violently angry tosee Tom gorge like a pig and pretend thatstewed beans and catfish are delicious.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . The public roads in many placesrun along close to the towpath of thecanal, and I see people in wagons. Theygo faster than we do.

It seemed . . . that all of the heatspent by the sun during the day hadsettled down into that hot and stuffy littleroom, and that all the mosquitoes everhatched in the mud puddles of Indianawere condensed into one humming,ravenous swarm right around my hardlittle bed. . . . All night I lay there under asmothering mosquito bar and listened tothe buzzing of the insects, perspiring as Inever supposed that anybody could. Itwas awful, horrid! It seemed that daylightwas never going to come again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You cannot imagine how tediousthis way of traveling is. You creep alonglike a snail in perfect silence. There aretwo horses to our boat now, but we goslower, I think. Our present driver is a littlered-headed man, not larger than a twelve-year-old Kentucky boy. He never curses,but he smokes a pipe all the time. . . . Hewears no coat and has but onesuspender, a dingy blue, over his redshirt, slanting across his back. Heappears to be well acquainted with everyperson that comes along, and always hassomething smart to say. . . .


Ind

ian

a Ti

mel

ine

Oth

er E

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ts in

His

tory

1815 1816

1820

1818

Enterprise is firststeamboat to go toNew Orleans andreturn upriver to itshome port north ofPittsburgh.(Taylor, 63)

1816

Indiana becomesnineteenth state.

(Carruth, 92)

First steamboat onGreat Lakes, onLake Ontario.(Taylor, 61)

New York beginsconstruction of

Erie Canal.(Carruth, 94)

1817

Illinois becomestwenty-first state.(Carruth, 95)

Stage line begins fromVincennes to Louisville.

(Esarey, 1:296)

Vincennes Western Sun, March 18, 1820.

An English family on the Wabash and Erie Canal, 1851J. Richard Beste came to the

United States with his wife andeleven children. He became ill inTerre Haute, and his youngestdaughter died there. Beste pub-lished a narrative of their trip asThe Wabash: or Adventures of anEnglish Gentleman’s Family in theInterior of America (2 vols., Lon-don, 1855; reprint 1970). Journalentries by his children are placedthroughout his account. Entriesby two of his daughters are in-cluded in this excerpt from vol-ume 2, pp. 191-213.

TUESDAY, 12TH AUGUST. At fiveo’clock in the afternoon, we stepped fromthe little quay at Terre Haute on board theIndiana canal boat. Three horses wereharnessed to a rope, about fifty yardsahead of the boat; they started at amoderate trot; and the town . . . was soonlost to our sight. No other passengerswere on board: and we wandered overthe vessel, well pleased with the promiseit gave us of tolerable accommodation.The captain, a very young man, was verycivil and attentive to our wants: and toldus that tea could be served at seveno’clock . . . .

The construction of the canal boatwas—in miniature—much the same asthat of the lake and river steamers. Therewas no hold or under-deck; but, on thedeck at the stern, were raised the kitchen,steward’s room, and offices; in the centreof the boat, was the large saloon—thesitting room of all by day, the sleepingroom of male passengers by night;adjoining it was the ladies’ saloon;beyond which again, was a small cabincontaining only four berths. This cabinwas separated by a doorway and curtain

from the ladies’ saloon, and on the otherside opened upon the bow of the vessel.In it, was a looking-glass, a hand bason,two towels, a comb and a brush, for theuse of the ladies. It was a rule in the boatsthat no gentleman should go into theladies’ saloon without express invitationfrom the ladies; consequently, the thirdlittle room was sacred to the female sexunless entered from the bow . . . .

A flat roof spread over the whole ofthe saloons; and on it was piled theluggage; and here passengers walked upand down or sat to enjoy the view.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Our children had wondered wherethey were to sleep, as there were novisible berths . . . . The steward, however,soon solved their doubts by hooking upsome shelves to the wall, and layingmattresses and sheets upon them.

. . . all complained bitterly of the badtea and coffee, of the heavy hot cornbread, and of the raw beef steaks.

I then produced my brandy bottle.

Dr. Read had advised me to give atablespoonful of brandy to each one of mychildren every night and morning, in thehope of keeping off the ague and fever ofthe canal: and I administered hisprescription regularly as long as we werein the boats. . .

‘After tea, we all began,’ writesAgnes [Beste’s daughter], ‘a mostmurderous attack upon the mosquitoesthat swarmed on the windows and insideour berths . . . .

WEDNESDAY. ‘What with turning abouton account of the heat and trying to catchthe musquitoes, who bit us dreadfully, wedid not get much rest . . . . After breakfast,which was much the same as the tea hadbeen, papa began reading some of TheCorsair aloud to us . . . . The monotony ofthe day was only broken by the manylocks that we had to pass through:although it was not agreeable to feel theboat strike suddenly against the wall orthe floodgates with force enough to throwdown those who were not on their guard.Then the violent rush of the waters from

Base

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16.

Fore Cabin Mid Cabin Aft Cabin

FoodStores

Cook’sBunk

Grain StorageLinenLocker

LibraryBaggage

Crew’s GearLockerBunk

Rope Locker

FeedBins

Freight Stable

RopeLockerHatch

Berth

Berth

Crew‘sQuarters

Passengers’Quarters

Berth

BerthBerth

Hatch HatchHatch Hatch

Galley

Bar

FeedBins

FeedBins

Bell

Lantern

Cook StoveVent

Stove Vent

Stove

Cook’sShack

This cutaway of a canal boat shows the layout of a typical Indiana canal boat. As you lookcarefully at the different compartments, equipment, supplies, and goods, remember that canal

boats were generally smaller than fifteen feet wide and ninety feet long, the standard lock size.


Ind

iana Tim

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Oth

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ts in H

istory

1825

Canal construction begins on Kentuckyside at Falls of the Ohio, killing canalproject on Indiana side; completed 1831;New York’s Erie Canal opens; Stocktonand Darlington, world’s first railroad forgeneral transportation, begins in England.(Fatout, 20-21; Carruth, 103; Taylor, 75-76)

Indiana General Assemblyincorporates Whitewater

Canal Company.(Laws, 1825-1826, pp. 29-36)

1826

Stage coachservice fromBrookville to

Cincinnatibegins.

(Esarey, 1:297)

1831

Welland Canal,New York,connecting LakeErie with LakeOntario, opens.(Taylor, 61)

1829

Baltimore and OhioRailroad chartered.

(Taylor, 77)

1828

Indiana GeneralAssembly accepts

land from Congressand elects canalcommissioners.

(Fatout, 41)

1828

U.S. Congress grantsIndiana lands forbuilding Wabash andErie Canal; route ofNational Road inIndiana surveyed.(Fatout, 39; Esarey, 1:291)

1827

Engraving of a light packet on the Erie Canal.

Indi

ana

His

toric

al S

ocie

tyLi

brar

y, N

egat

ive

No.

C71

62.

above, while the boat was rising withthem, rather made us imagine that wewere in Noah’s ark.’

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . we arrived, in the evening, at LaFayette, where we were to move intoanother canal boat. . . .

. . . Here I procured a fresh supplyof whiskey, to mix with our canal water,which we were afraid of drinking alone . . .. The bell soon summoned us to the boatwhich was to take us onwards; and whichwas so inconveniently drawn up thatfemales could only enter it by passingthrough the windows, from the saloon ofthe one into that of the other. . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘The berths were in tiers, [writesLucy, Beste’s daughter] three rows high;and, that we might not be intermingledwith other people, we girls took ours oneabove the other. I was put in the top one;for Catherine was too modest to climb sohigh; Ellen and Agnes were too short; andLouie still suffered from her pain in herside . . . . But the shelves or trays onwhich we lay, were so short, that I foundmy pillow constantly slipping down fromunder my head; and, if I put it lower down,my feet hung out at the other end; so that,although I was not very tall, I was obliged,at last, to curl myself up again and lie quitestill, while the mosquitoes devoured, and theheat melted me. At last I went to sleep.

THURSDAY. ‘. . . mama soonannounced that papa had left his room, sothat we might pass into it, and to the basinand two towels. Every third person had todip the jug into the canal for fresh water . . . .

‘Then came the breakfast . . . thebread was hot and very heavy, and thebeef steaks were dry, small and muchunderdone. . . . Captain [G.] Davis lookedvery black if any one asked to be helped asecond time.’

We passed through a great deal ofbeautiful country. . . .

I never saw more magnificent timberthan shaded the valleys through which wepassed. . . .

. . . At this little town [Fort Wayne], Iwent on shore again to replenish mybrandy and whisky flasks; for there hadbeen a large expenditure of the former onmy third boy, who had been ill in themorning, and had, we feared, caught theague and fever of the district. But some ofthe passengers advised me to give himfrequent spoonsful of burnt brandy; and itwas curious to see how speedily and howcompletely this cut short what threatenedto be a serious attack. . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As we proceeded onwards, we hadtaken in a great number of passengers;many of whom only used the boat forshort stages, from town to town: but manyothers now sought it as the only

conveyance to the Lakes and the more busydistricts we were here approaching. . . .

FRIDAY. We had passed from thevalley of the Wabash, running to thesouth-west, to that of the Meaumee river,which had a north-easterly current, andwe had now cut off a little angle on theright and were at the place where ourWabash canal joined that from the Ohio atCincinnati. Here we were to part withFrank and his next youngest brother,whom I had resolved to leave awhile inAmerica . . . .

At Junction, we had found theCincinnati boat; and there was aninterchange of many passengers as theydrew up side by side in the wide basin ofthe two canals. I commended my two poorboys to the care and kindness of the captainof the southern vessel, who seemed to be acivil, good-tempered man . . . .

Can

al

Soc

iety

of

India

na.

This photograph of mule drivers, or hoggies, is believed to have been taken on theWhitewater Canal. The Canal Society dates the photograph after 1856 because

of the telegraph lines. Note that there are passengers on the roof of the boat.


Ind

ian

a Ti

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Oth

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ts in

His

tory

1832

Constructionbegins on theWabash and ErieCanal.(Taylor, 47)

Miami and ErieCanal completed

from Cincinnatito Dayton.

(Taylor, 46)

1832 1833

Ohio and Erie Canalcompleted fromCleveland toOhio River.(Taylor, 46)

Indiana General Assemblyorders survey for WhitewaterCanal; engineers reportDecember 23, 1834 calls forcanal from Nettle Creek toLawrenceburg.(Esarey, 1:410)

1834

Indiana General Assemblyrequests Ohio to constructpart of Whitewater Canal inOhio; Ohio givespermission in 1836 law.(Laws, 1834-1835, pp. 272-73)

1835

Indiana’s ambitiousInternal Improvement Actapproved by GovernorNoah Noble; constructionon Whitewater Canalbegins.(Laws, 1835-1836, pp. 6-21; Esarey,1:418)

1836

1837

Michigan becomestwenty-sixth state.

(Carruth, 118)

OhioCanal System

Ohioand

Erie Canal

Miamiand

Erie Canal

Dayton

Cincinnati

Portsmouth

Columbus

ClevelandToledo

Marietta

Adapted from: Frank Wilcox, The Ohio Canals (Kent State

University Press, 1969) endpages.

The important economicimpact of the Wabash and ErieCanal has been studied exten-sively. The 1912 work by ElbertJay Benton is still cited by modernscholars. Benton noted the manytowns that were founded becauseof the canal. He also noted thatsome died with the canal while

Other cities, more fortunate, grew upwith it and with the coming of therailroads have continued to control thetraffic of their respective localities. Ft.Wayne, Huntington, Wabash, Peru,Logansport, Delphi, Lafayette,Covington, and Attica are conspicuous.Benton, 101-102.

Benton cites two examples oftrade at these canal centers wherewagons waited

for their turns to unload the products oftheir farms, bound to the easternmarkets. Four hundred wagonsunloading in Lafayette during a singleday of 1844 were counted by one ofthe pioneers. Another, speaking of thebusiness at Wabash, says it was acommon occurrence to see as many asfour or five hundred teams in that placein a single day unloading grain to thecanal. Benton, 101.

The Whitewater Canal hasreceived less scholarly attentionthan the Wabash and Erie Canal.Shaw, a modern author, indicatesthat “the Whitewater Canal, whichhad wielded such political lever-age, proved to be almost inoper-able” (Shaw, 95).

The promise of prosperityThe supporters of

the Whitewater Canal,however, remainedfaithful to keeping thecanal operable againstthe highest odds,especially flooding. Theextension of the canalinto downtown Cincin-nati in 1843 broughtthe Whitewater Valleyinto the national tradenetwork.

Various illustra-tions throughout thisissue provide samplesof the economic enter-prises related to theWhitewater Canal. Thecanal lines, the build-ers of boats, the ware-houses, the mills, the hotels, newand expanded towns, the variouscompanies formed to build partsof the canal, and the workers whokept the canals running found atleast short-term success as part ofIndiana’s canal era in theWhitewater Valley.

The remnants of theWhitewater Canal are reminders ofthe many people who succeededand failed with the canal. Here,too, with the coming of the rail-road, some towns and businesses

were able to adapt. As George S.Cottman put it,

This was a promise of commercialprosperity and a new lease of life to theWhitewater region. . . . Towns sprang upalong the proposed route and lay in wait,and as the canal, crawling northward,reached them successively, making oneand then another the head of navigation,each flourished and had its day. IndianaMagazine of History, 1:4 (1905), 207.

This hotel was close to both canal andsteamboat landings and clearly was

expecting the patronage of a better class oftravelers. What early accommodations

existed for travelers in your area?

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ian

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Jan

uary

19,

1844.


Ind

iana Tim

eline

Oth

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ts in H

istory

1839

Canal completed betweenBrookville andLawrenceburg; stateorders work stopped onmost internal improve-ment projects.(Esarey, 1:418-19; Fatout, 98)

White Water ValleyCanal Company

resumes workon canal.

(Fatout, 108-9)

1842 1843

Whitewater Canalcompleted toLaurel.(Fatout, 109)

1845

Miami and Erie Canalfrom Cincinnati

to Toledo completed.(Taylor, 46)

Brookville Indiana American, March 11, 1842.

Bro

okvi

lle

Ind

ian

a A

mer

ica

n,

Oct

ober

21,

1842.

Bro

okvi

lle

Ind

ian

a A

mer

ica

n,

Jan

uary

26,

1844.

Base

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21.

The Harkaway was a freight barge which hauled lumber. It wasowned by Rufus Webb and traveled between Laurel

and Cincinnati. Baudendistel, 28.

The canal provided a waterhighway to transport goodsand people. That watercould also be used tosupply power for mills,which, in turn, suppliedgoods to the town andbeyond. How does this useof a resource compare toour modern utilities today?

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n,

Apri

l 4,

1845.

By joining together, thesefour canal boat ownerscould offer continuousservice between Laurel andCincinnati. The canal toCincinnati was completed in1843, offering opportunitiesfor faster and moreeconomical travel andtransportation ofmerchandise to and fromthe Whitewater Valley.

This article lists the amount of goods shipped from Brookville inapproximately one month in 1844. Newspapers of the day regularlylisted the amounts of goods shipped in and out of various cities.Newpapers copied the figures from each other, thereby monitoringbusiness in other areas. Note that bbls. refers to barrels, a commonway to ship certain products.

Examine the many items listed here. If there are any with whichyou are not familiar, research to find out what they are. Are there anyitems no longer used today? What does this list tell you aboutagriculture in the Whitewater Valley?


A canal boat captain on the Whitewater CanalIn

dia

na

Tim

elin

eO

ther

Eve

nts

in H

isto

ry

1845

Whitewater Canalcompleted toConnersville in Juneand to Cambridge Cityin October.(Fatout, 117)

1846

U.S. declares waron Mexico; war

ends in 1848.(Carruth, 132, 135)

1847

Floods cause $100,000 damage toWhitewater Canal and repairs from floodin 1848 are $80,000; Hagerstown CanalCompany completes Whitewater Canalfrom Cambridge City to Hagerstown;Madison and Indianapolis Railroadcompleted.(Esarey, 1:426; Garman, 133; Taylor, 91)

1848

Wisconsin becomesthirtieth state.(Carruth, 135)

1850

International choleraepidemic reaches Midwest.(Carruth, 140)

1851

Indiana’s newConstitution adopted.

(Esarey, 1:520-21)

Brookville Indiana American, May 2, 1845.

Captain Joseph M’Caffertywas a canal boat captain on theWhitewater Canal during the1840s. According to Reifel, “Someyears before his death he[M’Cafferty] talked reminiscently”concerning his canal days. Thisexcerpt is from August J. Reifel,History of Franklin County, Indi-ana . . . (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen& Company, Inc., 1915), 254-56.

Captains and their canalboats were an important part ofthe economy. They generally wereindependent and paid tolls to usethe canals for passenger and

merchandise transportation. Notethat some of the people andincidents M’Cafferty mentions arealso referred to in illustrations onpages 12-13.

‘The first boat was the ‘BenFranklin.’ She had been running on theMiami canal for a number of years, and itwas decided to bring her over here. Shewas dropped down from the Miami canalto the Ohio river and floated toLawrenceburg and put into the WhiteWater canal. I bought her and changedthe name to ‘Henry Clay’ . . . . I built anumber of boats to sell, and always gotgood prices for them. The first boat built atCedar Grove was called the ‘Native,’ andwhen she started on her first trip therewas a good deal of excitement all alongthe canal. The ‘Native’ was a passengerand freight boat and was fitted up in amanner that was gorgeous for those days.There were two cabins and large staterooms ranged on the side, the same as isnow seen on passenger steamers.Stephen Coffin was the builder andcaptain . . . .

‘Finally I built a boat called the ‘Belleof Indiana,’ and there was nothing on thecanal that touched her anywhere. The

Bro

okvi

lle

Ind

ian

a A

mer

ica

n,

Sep

tem

ber

2,

1836.

Cambridge City with this advertisement(excerpted here) immediately jumped onthe bandwagon of Indiana’s 1836internal improvements system. What isthe purpose of the advertisement? Whatcan you learn from it about the city andthe area?

swan line of packets was put on aboutthat time. They did not carry anything butlight freight and passengers, and it wasexpected then they would make a fortunefor their owners. But they did not pay, andafter a season or two they werewithdrawn. I carried passengers on the‘Belle of Indiana’ . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘. . . There was an intense rivalrybetween the boats, and the way they usedto race was a caution, and when one boattried to pass another it was about sure toend in a fight. The crew of a boat was thecaptain, two steersmen, cook and driver,and sometimes they all got into it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘. . . the greatest time was whenthey opened the canal to Cambridge City.We knew for a long time that the canalwas to be opened up to that place, but wedid not know just when it would be, so weall laid away as much as possible andwaited for the word. . . . At last the wordcame that the water was in the canal atCambridge City, and we started.

‘There were twenty boats, and everyone tried to get by the other, and when wehad to make the locks I tell you there wassome tall swearing and not a little fighting,

The Belle of the West was a line boat which transported both passengers and freight. Itwas involved in the opening of the canal to Cambridge City in October 1845 with JohnLemon as captain. See M’Cafferty’s reminiscence and the article “Postscript” from theBrookville Indiana American, October 10, 1845 on page 13. “The cost of passage on a

line-boat . . . provided neither sleeping accommodations nor food for its patrons, and theboat generally moved more slowly than a packet” (Dunbar, 861, 851).

Base

d o

nB

au

den

dis

tel,

17.


Ind

iana T

imelin

eO

ther E

vents in

Histo

ry

1853

Wabash and ErieCanal completedto Evansville.(Taylor, 48)

1872

Yellowstone NationalPark Reserve

established.(Carruth, 179)

Wabash and ErieCanal sold for

$96,260 to repaybondholders.

(Esarey, 1:445)

1876

1861

U.S. Civil War begins;war ends in 1865.

(Carruth, 157, 166)

1859

Central Canalsold for $2,425.(Esarey, 1:426)

1865

White Water Valley Canal Company propertysold to president of Indianapolis and Cincinnati

Railroad; towpath later becomes roadbed forWhite Water Railroad Company.

(Fatout, 155-156)

Indiana State Library, Indiana Division Manuscripts.

but no one was hurt. My boat and all theother packets were crowded withpassengers. I had the ‘Belle of Indiana’then, and there was such a crowd on thedeck that I had to separate them so thesteersman could see the bow of the boat.When we got in sight of MIlton it seemedas if the whole United States was there.There were two or three cannons firedand the people were shouting and yellinglike Indians. John Lemon was the captainof the ‘Belle of the West,’ and I waspushing him mighty hard, for he was inthe lead. But the water was not deepenough for a good race and he beat meinto Cambridge City; but I was rightbehind him.

‘. . . There were cannons, morebands, the state officers were there andevery one had a great jubilee. . . . there isa big difference now and then. Why, wewent through the stretches of woods fourand five miles long then to get toCambridge, and it would be hard to find astretch now half a mile long. Those weregreat days, though, and everybody mademoney, but mighty few kept it. It wascome easy and go easy.

‘Of course, I was around the canalabout all my life, but I ran a boat aboutseven years, and good years they were,too. But I saw that the business on thecanal was falling off and so I sold all myboats, closed out my business, bought afarm and have been a farmer ever since. .. . I guess that I am about the only one ofthe boys who used to run on the canalthat is left, and it won’t be very long until Itie up forever.’

The White Water Valley CanalCompany was incorporated in 1842 bythe Indiana General Assembly tocomplete the canal to the NationalRoad, at Cambridge City. The CanalHouse headquarters in Connersvilleremains as a reminder of the granddays of the canal era in Indiana. TheCanal House was placed in theNational Register of Historic Places in1973.

Bro

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Ind

ian

a A

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ica

n,

Jan

uary

8,

1847.

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ian

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n,

Oct

ober

10,

1845.

This article indicates that “the White WaterCanal is in ruins.” The Whitewater Canal

suffered much damage from floods. Itssupporters over and over spent great sums

of money to repair it. Another disastrousflood in 1852 finally brought transportationuses of the canal to a close (Fatout, 154).

Fre

der

ick P

olle

y, I

ndia

napol

is S

tar,

Jan

uary

19,

1941.

Cambridge City started using its canalpotential for business in 1836 according tothe advertisement on page 12. The canal

did not reach there until October 1845. Theoral history by Captain M’Cafferty on this

page gives his version of the race to be thefirst boat to arrive at Cambridge City.

Is this article correct when compared toM‘Cafferty‘s version.


“Behind the Scenes” presents some aspect of how the Bureau staff produces each issue of themagazine. The focus may be, for example, the research process, an interpretation problem, etc.It also enables us to thank our partners and demonstrate that research is a collaboration with oftenunexpected twists and turns.

Behind the ScenesMy knowledge of Indiana History

was text book. This was real. I thoughtthat I was the first person to discoverliving history. At the Mill Falls I reallygot into the canal.

In the fall of 1967 I bought an olddry goods store on the canal inMetamora, Ind. Opened an antiqueshop for men dealing in primitive tools. . . . I moved upstaires above my storeand here I am. . . .

My antique shop may have been afinancial failure . . not unlike canals inIndiana . . but I got a wealth ofinformation. Maintaining what you’vegot is worthwhile. Indiana . . at thattime . . seemed embarrassed about hercanal era . . like it was a mistake thatshould be covered up. Not much wassaid about canals in my school years. Iwent out to explore and map canalruins. What a wealth of monuments wehad . . . and to this day we still do notrespect them as ‘Historic Landmarks.’

We go to Europe to see a 300 yearold pub . . to China to try to grasp a3000 year old temple. It’s time toseriously respect our own back yard.This land is sacred too.

I want to share that with people.Those in the future who want to beopen to it. . We should give them morespace to feel canal water.

I am very grateful to ‘the few people’who . . . struggled so long to save apiece of the Whitewater Canal. I owefor this space. I want to do what I can.

I’m still exploring my county, huntingits treasures, seeing my world as avisitor.

Ph

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Ph

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India

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Paul Baudendistel on the deck of Native Son.

Paul Baudendistel’sNative Son, a twelvefoot by fifty foot fullscale reproductioncanal boat he built anduses as a museum inMetamora, Indiana.

“respect our own back yard”Paul Baudendistel lives in

Metamora. After talking a fewminutes with him, his passion forthe Whitewater Canal is obvious.For the past thirty years he hasimmersed himself in its richhistory: researching, writing, andpreserving the heritage of hisadopted town. He has worked withthe Canal Society of Indiana andhas published various itemsrelated to the Whitewater Canal.His sketches of Whitewater Canalboats have been rendered oncomputer for use throughout thisissue.

Baudendistel lives on theupper floor of a building built in1848 as a dry goods store. Walk-ing through his front door is likewalking into a small museum.Books, old photographs, andmaps, blend with the eclecticartifacts that fill the living room.From the front windows, one canlook directly down on the restoredcanal.

What brought him toMetamora? What stirred suchpassion and dedication to an eralong gone? Baudendistel sharedhis beliefs in this short writteninterview.

Mary, my first wife, died ofl[e]ukemia cancer in the summer of1966. She was 21. The ‘importance ofthe individual’ was suddenly painfullyclear. With pencils and sketch pad . . Iwent on a quest . . soul searching. Inthe Eric Sloane tradition.

- Don’t push the river -

I came to Metamora to sketch oldbuildings . . and got caught up in thecanal. I was 25 and thought I knew somuch about life.

The canal waters were so powerfulat the mill falls . . so peaceful as theyflowed down Main St. of this littlevillage . . so timeless. There wassomething missing in my sketches . .people.

The Metamora Whitewater Canal site

In the 1940s, the Whitewater Ca-nal Association of Indiana, a group ofpeople dedicated to saving the canalaround Metamora, worked together toassure its restoration and preservation.The Association’s activities are includedin issues of the Indiana History Bulletinduring that time. In 1945, the IndianaGeneral Assembly created a state me-morial from the Whitewater Canal Sys-tem property donated by the WhitewaterCanal Association. Laws, 1944, pp. 142-44. Today, the Whitewater Canal StateHistoric Site is in the Indiana StateMuseum and Historic Sites division ofthe Department of Natural Resources.Contact: 317-647-6512.


A Note Regarding Resources: Items are listed on this page that enhancework with the topic discussed. Some older items, especially, may includedated practices and ideas that are no longer generally accepted. Resourcesreflecting current practices are noted whenever possible.

Selected ResourcesBibliography• Barnhart, John D., and DorothyL. Riker. Indiana to 1816: TheColonial Period. Indianapolis:Indiana Historical Bureau andIndiana Historical Society, 1971.

A standard reference for thisperiod.• Baudendistel, R. Paul. TheWhitewater Canal Boat Log:Notebook No. 1. Metamora, IN: R.Paul Baudendistel, 1995.

Booklet contains excerpts frommany sources about canal boatson the canal, as well as drawingsby the author.• Benton, Elbert Jay. The WabashTrade Route in the Development ofthe Old Northwest. Baltimore: TheJohns Hopkins Press, 1903;reprint [1958].

Standard source for the historyof the Wabash and Erie Canal,reprinted by the Public Library ofFort Wayne and Allen County.• Buley, R. Carlyle. The OldNorthwest: Pioneer Period, 1815-1840. 2 vols. Indianapolis: IndianaHistorical Society, 1950; reprint,1983.

Pulitzer Prize winning book isexcellent source for overview ofIndiana’s canal history in contextof Old Northwest; reprinted by theSociety and Indiana UniversityPress.• Carruth, Gorton. What Hap-pened When: A Chronology of Lifeand Events in America. New York:Harper & Row, Publishers, 1989.

A handy, abridged edition ofThe Encyclopedia of AmericanFacts & Dates.• Dunbar, Seymour. A History ofTravel in America. 4 vols. India-napolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Com-pany, 1915.

Canals are discussed in Volume3; informative and readable.• Esarey, Logan. A History ofIndiana: From Its Exploration to1850. 2 vols. Fort Wayne: TheHoosier Press, 1924 (third edition).

A standard resource originallypublished in 1918; page numbersdiffer in the various editions.• Fatout, Paul. Indiana Canals.West Lafayette: Purdue UniversityStudies, 1972.

Valuable source; easy-to-readhistory of canals in Indiana.• Garman, Harry O. “WhitewaterCanal, Cambridge City to the OhioRiver.” Indiana History Bulletin,39:9 (September 1962), 127-38.

A useful article for an overview.• Gray, Ralph D. “The Canal Erain Indiana.” Transportation and theEarly Nation. Indianapolis: IndianaHistorical Society, 1982, pp. 113-34.

A paper presented at an IndianaAmerican Revolution BicentennialSymposium in 1981, it provides amore positive approach to thehistory of Indiana’s canal era.• Madison, James H. The IndianaWay: A State History. Bloomingtonand Indianapolis: Indiana Univer-sity Press and Indiana HistoricalSociety, 1986.

Good general work from prehis-tory to late twentieth century.• Shaw, Ronald E. “The Canal Erain the Old Northwest.” Transporta-tion and the Early Nation. India-napolis: Indiana Historical Society,1982, pp. 89-112.

Provides useful context forstudying Indiana’s canals. SeeGray preceding.• Taylor, George Rogers. TheTransportation Revolution, 1815-1860. White Plains, NY: M. E.Sharpe, Inc., 1951.

Detailed, well-researched historyof the many forms of transporta-tion and their social and economicimpact upon American society.

Additional resources• Barnhart, John D., and DonaldF. Carmony. Indiana: From Frontierto Industrial Commonwealth. 4vols. New York: Lewis HistoricalPublishing Company, 1954, re-

print 1979.Volume 1 is a valuable source

for information on Indiana’sinternal improvements from 1816to 1836.• McCord, Shirley S., compiler.Travel Accounts of Indiana, 1679-1961. Indianapolis: IndianaHistorical Bureau, 1970.

First-hand observations, com-ments, and adventures of earlyIndiana travelers.

Suggested student resources• Boyer, Edward. River andCanal. New York: Holiday House,1986.

Design, construction, andoperation of imaginary canalpresented in text and line draw-ings; for any age group.• McNeese, Tim. America’s EarlyCanals. New York: CrestwoodHouse, 1993.

Readable history of the develop-ment of canals; for intermediateand advanced readers; includesglossary, resources, and index.• Nirgiotis, Nicholas. Erie Canal:Gateway to the West. New York:Franklin Watts, 1993.

Beginning history of buildingthe Erie Canal and its impact onAmerica; for elementary andmiddle school readers; includesreferences, glossary, and index .• Oxlade, Chris. Canals andWaterways. New York: FranklinWatts, 1994.

Craft and science demonstra-tions with brief text; for example,how a lock system works; forelementary and middle schoolreaders.• Stein, R. Conrad. The Story ofthe Erie Canal. Chicago: ChildrensPress, 1985.

Readable account with severalillustrations useful to studentunderstanding; for elementary andmiddle school readers.


Indiana Historical Bureau140 North Senate Avenue • Room 408 • Indianapolis, Indiana • 46204-2296 • 317-232-2535 • TDD 317-232-7763

The Whitewater Canal at Metamora. The canal was closed as a transportation route in1853. The canal property was purchased in 1865; White Water Railroad Company trackwas later laid on the canal towpath (Fatout, 155-56).

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