WABASH & ERIE CANAL

1832-1874

(468 Miles – Longest Canal Built in North America )

The Wabash and Erie Canal was a canal built from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, thus linking New York City (via the Erie Canal) to New Orleans via a combination of rivers, lake and canals; ultimately creating one of the first “interstates” in the United States. 

The original Wabash & Erie Canal was designed to have Toledo OH as its northern terminus with a southern terminus of Lafayette IN, with an extension to Terre Haute, IN in 1842. By the time the first packet boat made the complete journey in September of 1853, the Wabash and Erie Canal was actually a combination of four canals:

• Miami and Erie Canal from the Maumee River near Toledo, OH to Junction, OH (Originally the Wabash & Erie Canal but later renamed)
• Wabash and Erie Canal from Junction, OH to Lafayette, IN (extended to Terre Haute, Indiana),
• Cross Cut Canal from Terre Haute, Indiana, to Point Commerce, IN (Worthington),
• Central Canal (Southern Division) from Worthington to Evansville, IN

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Counties of the Wabash & Erie Canal

_{Click on the county name to the left of the screen to explore the canal in that county}

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Ohio Counties

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WABASH-ERIE CANAL STATS & STRUCTURES

WABASH-ERIE CANAL TOUR GUIDES

CSI ARTICLESABOUT THE WABASH-ERIE CANAL

CANALS OF THE WABASH-ERIE CANAL SYSTEM