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The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 460 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America. The canal known as the Wabash & Erie in the 1850s and thereafter, was actually a combination of four canals: the Miami and Erie Canal from the Maumee River near Toledo, Ohio to Junction, Ohio, the original Wabash and Erie Canal from Junction to Terre Haute, Indiana, the Cross Cut Canal from Terre Haute, Indiana to Worthington, Indiana (Point Commerce), and the Central Canal from Worthington to Evansville, Indiana. ==Construction== The United States Congress provided a land grant on March 2, 1827 for the canal's construction. On January 5, 1828, the Indiana General Assembly accepted the grant and appointed three commissioners.〔Charles R. Poinsatte, Fort Wayne During the Canal Era 1828-1855 (() Indiana Historical Bureau, 1969), 33-34.〕 These commissioners concluded that the canal would have to extend into Ohio and petitioned that state to appoint a commission of their own. The state legislature approved the plan and new commissioners appointed. After several legislative battles begun by proponents of the railroad, the Indiana General Assembly approved the borrowing of $200,000 to begin construction. February 22, 1832 ground was broken and construction began.〔Poinsatte, 35-36〕 Construction of the canal reached Logansport by 1837.〔Poinsatte, 80.〕 The Panic of 1837 devastated Indiana's program of internal improvements, but did not stop construction entirely.〔Poinsatte, 81.〕 The canal reached Lafayette by 1843, Terre Haute by 1848 and Evansville by 1853.〔Andrew R. L. Cayton, Frontier Indiana (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996), 285.〕 During the summer of 1991, the Gronauer Lock was uncovered at New Haven, Indiana, during the construction of I-469. This is the only intact wooden timber lock discovered. Part of the Gronauer Lock is now on display at the Indiana State Museum. The high-line sections of the canal proved to be high maintenance and the cost of their repair is what eventually led to the collapse of the canal company. The worst offender was the common muskrat which were plentiful in the area. They would build burrows in the sides of the canal walls and once they tunneled through on the opposite side the water quickly washed out the entire wall of the levee which rendered the canal useless until it could be repaired. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wabash and Erie Canal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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