History of Wabash & Erie Canal in Delphi  

The Canal Dream

Following the success of the Erie Canal from New York to Buffalo, Indiana's leaders had a dream of digging a statewide network of canals.  Several attempts were made before and after Indiana was granted statehood in 1816, but all failed for lack of funds. The first Hoosier lottery was conducted in 1819, with the hope of raising the necessary funds to  build a canal around the Falls of Ohio, but the game garnered only $2,536.  This was considerably shy of the dollars needed to begin construction.  It was the Internal Improvements Act of 1836, which appropriated a time-sensitive 6 million dollars for canal building and other improvements that launched Indiana into the Canal Era.

Only two canal systems were successfully completed in Indiana: the 101 mile Whitewater Canal from Hagerstown to Cincinnati, and the Wabash & Erie Canal from the eastern state line near Fort Wayne to Evansville on the Ohio River.  The Wabash & Erie connected with canals in northern Ohio, which then joined the Erie Canal.  At 468 miles in length from Toledo to Evansville, it was the largest fabricated structure in the United States. It was said that the Wabash & Erie Canal was a part of the second-longest canal in the world.  The Grand Canal in China is the longest.

The Canal Era Begins

On February 22, 1832, the Wabash & Erie Canal was started in Fort Wayne, IN, on the anniversary of George Washington's birthday.  Once completed, it connected Toledo, OH (Manhattan), and Evansville, IN. 

In Indiana, the Canal was built mostly by Irish immigrants using shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, and the horse-drawn slip-scoop.  By 1837, there were 1000 laborers employed on the state's canal system.  A large construction camp at this site housed several hundred immigrant workers and their families. Accidents, fever, cholera, fights, and snakebite exacted a heavy toll on the workforce, many of whom were buried as they fell on the towpath.  It has been reported that the toll in lives from the building of the canal was one person for every six feet of completed canal in the forty-mile stretch between the Indiana / Ohio state line and Junction, Ohio. This figure, however, has been vigorously contested by some canal historians.

The Canal reached Logansport in 1838 and Delphi in 1840.  An article from Cass County historical records declared, "The whole town turned out to see the first boat come in on the 'raging canal' drawn by three mules -- made 5 or 6 miles per hour." Within Carroll County, a dam across the Wabash River was begun in 1838 and finished in 1841 with a steam boat lock at Pittsburg. This thriving town was platted in 1836. The pooled water enabled canal boats to cross the Wabash at Carrollton, travel along the lake for two and a half miles, and re-enter the Canal a mile above Delphi.  It is often referred to as the Great Dam, because the engineer proclaimed it the largest dam built in Indiana, if not in the entire West!  A group of disgruntled citizens blamed the dam for flooding in the area and with a mixture of malice and blasting powder, took Fate into their hands. The dynamiting of the dam on February 9, 1881, not only destroyed the canal boat river crossing, but ended Pittsburg's economic boom as well.

Canal Commerce

Both packets and line boats were decked in hues of green, yellow, brown, red, white, or blue, complete with coordinating panels and window frames. The Silver Bell was painted silver and drawn by a matched team of gray mules in silver harness. It was known for its tinkling silver bells and speeds up to eight miles per hour.

Barges were constructed of wood, which was in great supply throughout the region traversed by the "Big Ditch."  Farmers, loggers, wagon makers, and others made use of the Canal with their own canal boats, transporting goods to market and bringing back items on their return.

Given the independent nature of these "Westerners,” the Canal held great appeal with the general populous over railroads because the common pioneer could construct a makeshift canal craft with the tools at hand.  Rail cars could not be easily fashioned and were often built near foundries, purchased, and shipped by water inland.  The Wabash, which had long been a native thoroughfare servicing the inhabitants of the, area, became alive with water traffic and related businesses. Items exported from this area were grain, logs, pork, and whiskey.  Numbered among the imports were coffee, salt, manufactured goods, and settlers.

Perhaps the largest industry along the Canal was the Spears, Case, and Dugan pork packing and grain business.  Next to Madison, Delphi was referred to as the "junior pork packing center of the West."  Delphi's canvas hams were famous worldwide.

During the harvest season, the Canal was an ideal means of transportation for extra crops and livestock.  Good roads were non-existent, as much of Indiana was still a wilderness with well-established towns mostly on the Ohio and along the Wabash and Whitewater Rivers.  Before the canal trade opened, it was not uncommon that farmers received ten cents a bushel for wheat or forty-five cents a bushel if it could be transported to Michigan City. After canal trade was initiated, farmers earned a dollar per bushel. Likewise, the cost of imported goods dropped as transportation improved. In a matter of a few years, salt plummeted from ten dollars a barrel to four dollars.

The End of an Era

The cost of carving the Canal from wilderness and the expense of the waterway's subsequent upkeep far exceeded the expectations and the funds set aside for the project. 

Unlike neighboring states, most canal structures in Indiana were constructed from wood and they required constant repair.  Indiana weather - floods in spring, drought in Summer, ice in winter - hampered canal traffic and reduced anticipated revenue.  The State of Indiana faced a staggering $15,088,146 debt burden before its twenty-fifth birthday in 1841. This resulted in the present provision in the Indiana constitution that forbids indebtedness.

Railroads gained popularity because they could run all winter and were not as subject to disruption of service due to drought and floods.  One of the great ironies of history is that the slow-paced mule-driven canal boats transported the rails from foundries for the railroads, which closed the chapter on the Canal Era by the 1870s. Tradition has it that "Keystone State" was the last boat to cross the Deer Creek Bridge adjacent to the Deer Creek Dam.  

As the mules stepped onto the rotting towpath bridge they fell through the planks.  This loss of forward momentum led to the driver loosing control of his craft as it neared the more swift current approaching the spillway.  

The result was a crash into the old wooden crib dam, which also failed.  The mules, cargo and driver were all dashed into the Wabash River and drowned. With the 'breech' in the dam and loss of water level, this was the end of the canal in this section.  Other watercraft for miles along the canal between Lafayette and Delphi were stranded in the resulting mire.

Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal, Inc.: Beginning Anew

On February 19, 1971, the first local meeting concerning the improvement and preservation of the Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal was held at the Thomas McCain residence near the current Canal Park Annex.  In 1974, the Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal, Inc. was formed to preserve the Canal in Carroll County and honor the significance of the Canal Era in Indiana's history. (Founders and charter members are listed in the front.) The founding members recognized the importance of preserving this section as the only accessible portion of the Wabash & Erie Canal, which still had water in it. The generosity and foresight of  Peters-Revington. Inc., who donated the land adjacent to the Canal, made the present park possible.