John Carlos Baez on Nostr: The Miami and Erie Canal was a 274-mile canal that ran from Cincinnati to Toledo, ...

The Miami and Erie Canal was a 274-mile canal that ran from Cincinnati to Toledo, creating a water route between the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Construction began in 1825, and the canal was completed two decades later at a cost of $8 million - a quarter of a billion in today's money!

At its peak, it included 19 aqueducts, three guard locks, 103 canal locks, multiple feeder canals, and a few man-made water reservoirs. Boats up to 80 feet long were towed along the canal by mules, horses and oxen.

Because of competition from railroads, commercial use of the canal declined in the late 1800s, and it was permanently abandoned for commercial use in 1913 after a historic flood in Ohio. Only a small fraction of the canal survives today, along with its towpath and locks.

Here is a lock from the Ohio & Erie canal, in the aptly named town of Lockington.