At one time the United States had over 4,500 miles of canals and navigations, and one of the longstanding goals of the American Canal Society has been to promote and educate about all these waterways. Many of these canals were connected, not only physically where a boat could move from one to another, but by the engineers, contractors, financiers, laborers and politicians, all who advocated for their construction and then moved from one to another to see that they were built.
I recently reread the book, Canals For A Nation, by Ronald E. Shaw (1990). I first read it decades ago and found that it remains a wonderfully written book. It perhaps has more meaning now that my understanding of canals has grown after many years of study. Shaw weaves the history of all the canals of the United States together, showing inter-connectivity of those American canals built in the canal era, which Shaw defines as 1790-1860. If you are a person who just gazes out upon your local or state canal as The Canal, Shaw gently proves that you are missing a large piece of the canal puzzle.
The book seamlessly weaves from one canal to the next. The book only has seven chapters that takes the reader through the canal era. Shaw begins with the Pioneer Canals and Republican Improvements, and then shows how those early efforts led to the canals of the Great Lakes to Atlantic: New York and New England, down to the Mid-Atlantic: Pennsylvania and New Jersey, then to the Chesapeake and Southern Canals, and finishing with the Canals of the Northwest. He wraps all these up with The Canal Network and the Canal Era in Politics and Economic Development. This last chapter hones in on how canals could be considered economic engines and community builders, even when they were considered to be financial failures.
Mr. Shaw presents those 70 years of history in 237 pages, which means that his narrative moves fairly quickly. In fact, Canals For A Nation is basically a guide that presents to you all the canals, and if you find that your interest has been tweaked, you can glance at the extensive notes, bibliographical essay and index, to find more in-depth resources for further study (at least those that had been published up to 1990). He also presents a nice map of all the canals in the inside cover to help you find your way around the network.
If you are new to canals or have been around for a bit, go find a copy of this book and give it a read. If you are one of those folks who only wants to study Your Canal, you might find this book to be eye-opening. There are new and used copies out there and the book deserves to be in your library.