Ohio

Canal History

Canal Society of Indiana
Ron Reid’s 1982 Map

Ohio had a number of canals. The 308-mile-long Ohio and Erie, and the 274-mile-long Miami and Erie were north/south orientated canals that formed a connection between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. The Ohio and Erie ran between Cleveland and Portsmouth, and the Miami and Erie ran from Toledo and Cincinnati. The Miami and Erie also branched off to the west at Junction to serve as the northern end of the Wabash and Erie Canal that crossed Indiana.

A number of “feeder” canals branched off the two larger canals. The 82-mile-long Pennsylvania and Ohio and the 73-mile-long Sandy and Beaver served to connect the Ohio and Pennsylvania canal systems. The 111-mile-long Muskingum River navigation created a connection between the Ohio and Erie and Marietta on the Ohio River. The 56-mile-long Hocking Valley canal was a dead-end canal serving Athens, Ohio. Other canals were the Walhonding, the Columbus Feeder, the Granville, the Warren County, the Sidney Feeder, and the Milan Canal. The Whitewater Canal of Indiana also began in Ohio.

The Muskingum River remains in use. It is one of the oldest navigations in the country and it is maintained by the state of Ohio. The Ohio River continues to see a lot of commercial traffic and is maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Ohio and Erie and the Miami and Erie are used as recreational trails. Boat rides can be found on both canals. At Canal Fulton visitors can ride the St. Helena III and at the Johnson Farm and Indian Agency in Piqua visitors can ride the General Harrison.

In 2009, the Canal Society of Ohio published a listing of all the locks that remained intact in an issue of Towpaths.

Canal Groups and Organizations

Canal Society of Ohio. The CSO is a membership organization that is dedicated to the preservation and education about all of the state’s canals. The group hosts field trips during the year. Announcements about tours can be found on the website.

The Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway was created in 1996 to help preserve and promote the Ohio and Erie Heritage Corridor. It covers the canal lands between Cleveland and New Philadelphia.

Roscoe Village is a restored 1830s port town that offers a glimpse into what it would be like to live a day in the life of someone from that era.  The village features full costume interpreters, a practicing blacksmith, and more. Visitors can also take a narrated canal boat ride that is pulled by a team of draft horses along a restored section of the Ohio and Erie Canal. 

The Johnson Farm and Indian Agency is a museum that covers life in the 1800s with the Johnson Farm Museum, 1815 Farmhouse, 1808 Double Pen Barn, 1815 Springhouse, and a ride on the General Harrison canal boat on a section of the Miami and Erie Canal.

Other Resources

Samuel J. Tamburro created a comprehensive Ohio Canal Bibliography that also includes neighboring states.

Kent State University has some of the Canal Society of Ohio materials. See the website for an inventory.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has digitized Ohio Canal Lands Original Plat Map Drawings. These are offered as downloadable zip files that you download to your computer. There is no index, but here is an map that can help you find the county name and nearby plat number.

The Rails and Trails Transportation History Sources website has some good resources and maps about Ohio’s Canals. The website includes many links to other resources.

A full listing of structures built along the Ohio and Erie, and the Miami and Erie, canals can be found below in the Canal Index pages.

Canal Index Pages

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has made Canal Plat Maps available on-line.

Note: Canals in blue and underlined have index sheets which are accessible by double clicking on the hyperlink.  Canals listed in green below do not yet have index sheets.  They are listed here to make the list more complete.  It is intended to add index sheets for them in the future.

Please note that some of these pages were filled out in the early 1970s. Changes have occurred since and there are some inaccuracies in the information on the pages.

Revised 04/29/2022