1805 – 1825
The Ohio River today is navigable from the confluence to the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers in Pittsburgh, PA to the Mississippi River near Cairo, IL flowing a total of 981 miles; however, in the early days of the young United States this was not the case. A drop of approximately 25 feet at modern day Clarksville/Louisville stood in the way for all shipping along this major waterway. Indiana attempted three time to build a canal around the falls without success. A great competition began between both sides of the river, for the first side to complete such a canal would see a huge economic boom. The first attempt was when the area was part of the Indiana Territory (Indiana Canal Company), and the latter two attempts were tried after statehood had been achieved (Ohio Canal Company & Jeffersonville-Ohio Canal Company). The Indiana Canal Company had much controversy surrounding it due to two of its commissioners, Gen. James Wilkinson and Aarron Burr and their involvement with the Burr Conspiracy, to which Aarron Burr was later acquitted. It was the third attempt (Jeffersonville-Ohio Canal Company) that came the closest to success but failed when the dam holding back water in or near Mill Creek failed. With the failure of the dam and Federal approval for the Louisville-Portland Canal, the Kentucky side of the river won the contest to build the much-needed canal around the Falls of the Ohio.
Clark County and the Falls Canal
MAPS OF THE FALLS CANAL
Google Maps
1876 Historical Map
THE FALLS CANAL TOUR GUIDE
“OVERCOMING OBSTACLES”
THE FALLS CANAL & CLARK COUNTY
The following tabs correspond to articles written from past Canal Society of Indiana publications and the county you are viewing. Click on the link to read the associated article.
(2017 – Present)
The Tumble is the Canal Society of Indiana’s (CSI) current publication. The Tumble was the first publication of CSI to be completely internet based starting in 2017.
2024
(2002-2016)
The Hoosier Packet was the official Canal Society of Indiana’s publication from 2002 through 2016.
(1986-2002)
The Newsletter began being published in 1986 and was a companion publication of the Canal Society of Indiana’s (CSI) that ran concurrent with Indiana Canals publication. The Newsletter was initially printed with information about CSI. In the mid 990s Newsletter took on a new format and absorbed Indiana Canals into this one publication which became the primary publication of the Canal Society of Indiana until 2002.
