The Wabash Erie Canal in Logansport, IN

In March of 1827 congress passed an act to provide Indiana with the funds to build a canal to connect the Wabash River with Lake Erie. The Logansport part of the canal was completed in the summer of 1838. The can came down north of the Wabash and present day Erie Street is built of the bed of the old canal. An aqueduct was built over the Eel River at Fifth Street which at the time was called Canal Street. In the fall of 1838 water was let into the canal and it went as far west as Berkley Street. However, it was not until 1840 that workers were able to extend the canal to pass over the Eel River.

The Wabash and Erie Canal provided settlers and businesses with a reliable and inexpensive way to move people and goods across Indiana. It was a huge boon to the county and gave Logansport the prestige of a water front town and greatly increased the population and commerce of the town. Canal boats were known as ." packets" and carried both people and goods in and out of towns lining the canal. The boats provided a limited number of state rooms and meals for their wealthier passengers so most ordinary folks were dependent on stopping in towns along the canal for their meals. The canal boats stopped at the various towns on route to Lake Erie to drop and pick up freight and passengers.

Canal boats had ropes securely fastened to their bows and were pulled or "towed" by strong mules. These tow paths were used by mules for over thirty years and some of these well worn trails can still be made out today along the river's edge. When packet tied up in Logansport it was a source of excitement for the whole town. The post master and other met the packets to get all of the latest mail and verbal gossip from the east.

Many early businesses were associated with the canal. Today where the Presbyterian Church stands on Seventh Street stood the Obenchain-Boyer flour mill. Just to the west was the Pollard -Wilson Mercantile. On the west side of downtown was a huge warehouse that was built to store freight coming on and of the canal boats. The first large merchandise store run by pioneer Thomas Pierce stood at Fifth and Broadway (at the time Canal and Broadway). Thomas Pierce was the father of the later well known tailor Patrick Pierce.

Many families came to settle in Logansport via the canal. Many of the families moved to Logansport from Fort Wayne and Lagro as new commerace opportunities was opening up due to the opening of the canal. Many families had settled in the community to help with the construction of the canal. A malarial outbreak occurred during the building of the canal and most of the victims were buried in the east side of the old Ninth Street Cemetery . In 1890 when Ten Street was expanded to cut across Erie Avenue the bodies were moved to Mount Hope and Mount Saint Vincent cemeteries. Many of the bodies were those who had perished in the epidemic while working on the original canal. The coming of the railroad to Logansport made the canal impractical to maintain. The canal was abandoned in 1875 after about thirty five years of usages

The author of the History of Logansport and Cass County Graham Tabor in 1947 wrote that he remembered' driving cows down the , old drying canal bed as far west as Ninth St. in order to water them at the old spring just south of the cemetery and then as the glorious Indiana sunset faded view , the chorus of frogs in the remnants of the old canal would begin its nocturnal serenade."

Sources:

http://wabasheriecanal.blogspot.com/

Indiana Sesquicentennial Commission

http://bridgehunter.com/category/tag/canal/

Source: History of Logansport and Cass County by Graham Taber copyright 1947 by the Pharos-Tribune. Published at Logansport ,Indiana.