Crosscut Canal Eel River Feeder Dam

Location: 4 miles north of Clay City on SR 59 at Eel River bridge, northwest corner. (Clay County, Indiana)

Erected 1999 Indiana Historical Bureau, Canal Society of Indiana, and local citizens.

ID# : 11.1999.1

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Text

Side one:

Eel River Feeder Dam, 180 feet long and 16.5 feet high, was completed 300 yards downriver from here 1839. It was constructed to carry enough water from the river to enable navigation of boats on the proposed Crosscut Canal, included in Indiana Internal Improvement Act 1836. State halted construction of canal 1839.

Side two:

Crosscut Canal construction resumed 1847; in service 1850-circa 1861 from Terre Haute on Wabash River to Worthington on West Fork White River. Feeder Dam, deteriorated with neglect, repaired and extended to 264 feet long by 1850. Part of Wabash and Erie Canal, America's longest at approximately 460 miles; linked Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio with Ohio River at Evansville 1853.

Keywords

Transportation, Business, Industry, and Labor