Skip to main content

Canal

Duck Creek Aqueduct
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BridgesEra: 1840-1849DateCreated: 1846Whitewater CanalMetamoraState: INZip: 47030Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Duck-Creek-Aqueduct/Creator: Hutchens, Charles

The significance of the 15-mile Whitewater Canal was not in its ability to create a profit, but rather its effect on the economic growth of the Whitewater River Valley, considered the gateway to the interior of Indiana. Before the canal, travel was challenging. Most waterways in Indiana were only navigable by canoe, and the alternative - horse and wagon - was difficult, slow and expensive.  

YearAdded:
1992
Image Credit: Public Domain (Author's Choice)Image Caption: Duck Creek AqueductEra_date_from: 1846
Dismal Swamp Canal
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water TransportationEra: 1800-1829DateCreated: 1805ChesapeakeState: VACountry: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Dismal-Swamp-Canal/Creator: Dismal Swamp Canal Co., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Dismal Swamp Canal was created as a 22-mile waterway, extending from Deep Creek, Virginia to South Mills, North Carolina. The canal enabled North Carolina producers of building and agricultural products to deliver goods to the Port of Norfolk where they were transferred to ocean-going vessels.   

YearAdded:
1987
Image Credit: Photo by Edwin S. Grosvenor (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Dismal Swamp CanalEra_date_from: 1805
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water TransportationEra: 1800-1829DateCreated: 1829Chesapeake and Delaware CanalNew CastleState: DEZip: 19701Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/project/chesapeake---delaware-canal/Creator: Wright, Benjamin, White, Canvass

The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal is the only canal built in 19th-century America that still operates today as a major shipping route. Connecting the Port of Baltimore and Upper Chesapeake Bay with the mouth of the Delaware River and the Port of Philadelphia, the canal was one of the first civil engineering projects proposed in the New World and one of the most difficult to carry out. Although only 14 miles long, the canal's original cost made it one of the most expensive canals ever built in America.  

YearAdded:
1985
Image Credit: Original Image: Courtesy Flickr/Lee Cannon (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Chesapeake and Delaware CanalEra_date_from: 1829
Cape Cod Canal
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Water TransportationEra: 1900-1909DateCreated: 1909-1914Cape CodState: MACountry: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Cape-Cod-Canal/Creator: Parsons, William Barclay

The idea of a canal eliminating the costly and dangerous sea trip around the Massachusetts peninsula of Cape Cod was envisioned as early as 1623 by Pilgrim leader Miles Standish. It was not until financier August Belmont became involved in 1906, however, that sufficient funds for the project could be raised. Belmont had been the primary backer of New York City's first subway, and chose the subway's chief engineer, William Barclay Parsons, as the canal's project director.  

YearAdded:
1985
Image Credit: Courtesy nae.usace.army.milImage Caption: Cape Cod CanalEra_date_from: 1909
Lowell Waterpower System
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Power GenerationEra: 1800-1829DateCreated: 1821 National Historical ParkLowellState: MAZip: 01854Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Lowell-Waterpower-System/Creator: Francis, James B.

Much of the sophisticated system of canals, dams, gates, and tunnels built to manage water power in 19th-century Lowell is preserved today as the basis of the Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Heritage State Park. Pictured above is the Boott Penstock, an early channel adjacent to the Boott Mills (right).

YearAdded:
1984
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Leonora Enking (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Lowell Waterpower System: Pawtucket GatehouseEra_date_from: 1821
Subscribe to Canal

Innovations

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.