Ohio and Erie Canal- Lock #38

At one time in the history of Ohio, canals played a major role in shipping goods to the East Coast and down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Lock number 38 was one of 44 locks that lifted canal boats 395 feet in elevation between Cleveland and Akron. Canal boat operation on this stretch of the canal began in 1827 and continued until 1913. The entire canal stretched 308 miles to the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio, and from there goods were moved from the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, eventually reaching New Orleans and other ports along the Gulf coast.

The canal was a significant part of the water-based transportation system that carried goods from the Cleveland area south to the Gulf or East via Lake Erie and the Erie Canal to New York and other major East coast cities. It was a vital link in this system, and within one year wheat shipped through Cleveland increased from 1000 bushels to 250,000 bushels. By 1840 the number had soared to 2,200,000 bushels. However, shortly after that, railroads began to replace the canal, and a major flood in 1913 was the end of the canals. Railroads were faster and more economical, and speed and economics ruled the day.

I took this picture and a few others that you can see here when we visited Lock #18 in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park this afternoon on the way home from my last photography class. This portion of the canal, about 40 minutes from our home, runs through Ohio's only national park, and the canal towpath is a popular spot for hikers, bikers, and bird watchers.