In 1835, The Wabash & Erie Canal Was Completed

In 1835, The Wabash and Erie Canal Was Completed. . , In 1835, the Wabash and Erie Canal was completed through this area. A swatch, 60 feet wide, was cleared before a channel, 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep, was dug by men using picks, shovels, axes and slip scoops pulled by beasts of burden. Across the way a berm, 5 feet wide, edged the north side of the canal. You are standing on the towpath which was 10 feet wide. Horses or mules plodded along the towpath pulling canal boats that were as much as 90 feet long and 14 feet wide. Mules were used to haul freight boats while the more fleet-footed horses pulled the sleek packet passenger boats at a brisk 5 mph., The agreement whereby the lands for the canal in this area were acquired from the Miami Indians came as a result of a letter written in 1834 by Chief Richardville to General Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War and a past commissioner at the 1826 Treaty of Paradise.