Notice of the Louisville Canal, Spc. 65 



Art. XIV. — Notice of the Louisville and Shippingsport 

 Canal, and of the Geology of the vicinity ; by Increase 

 A. Lafham, assistant Engineer. 



(with plans, sections, &c.) 



The navigation of the Ohio river, which is of itself one 

 of the most important, as well as most interesting waters of 

 the west, is obstructed only by the rapids at this place, usu- 

 ally called the falls of the Ohio. In these rapids, the river 

 has a descent of twenty-two and a half feet, in a distance of 

 somewhat less than two miles ; but in no case, has it a per- 

 pendicular fall of more than three. At high water, an ac- 

 celeration of current, not usual to other parts of the river, is 

 all that is perceived ; but at low water, it cannot be passed 

 by loaded boats, without great risk and danger. The direc- 

 tion of the river, above and below the rapids, is from north 

 east to south west. The point where it meets the rocky ob- 

 struction, which occasions the falls, gives it a direction, near- 

 ly at right angles, to the course above noted, which conse- 

 quently gives it a more unfavorable and dangerous appear- 

 ance. 



The necessity for a canal around these rapids, must have 

 been felt ever since the Ohio river first began to be naviga- 

 ted, by boats of any considerable size ; and an attempt was 

 long ago made, to construct a canal on the Indiana side of 

 the river, but it did not succeed well. 



In January 1825, the present company was chartered, by 

 the legislature of Kentucky, with a capital of six hundred 

 thousand dollars, to construct a canal around the rapids of 

 the Ohio, on the Kentucky side of the river. In December, 

 of the same year, the work was put under contract to Col- 

 lins, Chapman & Co. (formerly contractors on the New 

 York canals) to be completed by the first of November, 1 827. 



It commences at the lower end of a basin, or esluary, 

 which extends along the shore of the river, for the whole 

 length of the village of Louisville, and is connected with the 

 river at its upper end. From the lower part of this basin, 

 the canal traverses the point formed by the bend of the river 

 on the falls, and enters the river again at the lower part of 

 the little village of Shippingsport. Its length is about two 

 miles ; it is fifty feet wide on the bottom ; and its banks are forty 



Vol. XIV.— No. 1. 9 



