The Canal's Locks And Narrowboats

The Canal's Locks And Narrowboats. . The Miami and Erie Canal was not an easy task, digging the route from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. The workers needed a way to lift the boats, up to 513 feet above the Ohio River and 395 feet above Lake Erie, and lower the boats that traveled the canal. In order to raise and lower the boats along the canal's numerous hills and obstacles, like villages and dense woods, the canal workers had to build what is called Canal Locks. There were a total of 105 locks along the Canal's 250 mile long journey through Western Ohio. The lock's chamber would measure ninety feet long and fifteen feet wide to accommodate the boat's length that would range from forty feet to seventy two feet long and fourteen feet wide. The boats, also known as Narrowboats, would travel up and down the canal from sunrise to sunset being pulled by donkeys and horses. It took about ten to twenty minutes just to go through one lock The lock also needed 100,000 gallons of water just to help the boat ascend and descend. These boats could only reach a max of four miles per hour because if they went any faster the boat would start eroding away the clay sides of the canal. Most of these locks in Northwest Ohio were made out of timber because of the very dense Black Swamp area. Timber was very useful in making these locks. The timber soaked up the water to create a water tight seal which was key in making the lock a success. Lime stones were used in some locks but only if it was in great supply around the area. If limestones were available, the workers would use that instead of timber because once the lock was built there would be no need to repair it unlike timber which might crack or leak water. The rocks displayed here weigh just over 3000 lbs. or a ton and a half. The Canal and the locks were all built and dug by man power. They used simple machines like inclines and simple hammers. They had no construction machines. The only thing that was close to machines were horses to move stones and dirt. These stones standing here were salvaged from Lock Thirty along the Miami and Erie Canal Lock Thirty was located four miles north of Ottoville, just west of Road 25M. There were five locks located in Monterey Township alone when the Canal was established.