--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 09:52:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Reference Question <fwd>
Sender: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>



Lura, and the list:

We get queries here about this subject.  There was a major canal in the
pre-railroad days of this part of Ohio, the Miami-Erie Canal.  The most
important resources to use for locating canals, whether they exist yet as
canals or are only depressions on the ground, are the topographic map
series, and aerial photography and aerial mapping.  The topographic maps,
both 7.5-minute and 15-minute, can help.  Aerial imagery, including
orthophoto maps can also help.

On the topographic maps, some canal routes will be labelled as such.
Other times not.  When they are not, look for features near the river way,
but that follow a more straight line than the river itself does.  A book
or books about canals can help give clues to where to look.  The books'
maps are going to be of too small a scale to use alone, so use them as
location maps.

Aerial imagery can help too.  They are going to have less labelling than
even the maps will do, but once you know where to look, the features will
be quite clear.

Where the canals still exist, they will be quite obvious.  Where they do
not, you will see channels in the ground, usually deep enough to have a
contour line if the interval is 10 feet.  They will show as straight
lines, rather than the natural appearance of river and stream beds.  They
are larger than the average ditches, even today, after walls have
collapsed, the stone has been removed for other uses, and the beds have
filled themselves in.

This takes careful examination of the maps and images, but with some
intuitive looking, it should work.

One potential challenge is if the river channel, this being the
Mississippi, has changed and overtaken some of the canal bed.  The canals
are probably outside the are enclosed by levies, however.  And if it has
happened in some places, it hasn't happened along entire canal routes!

Maps of the type you are asking about can help, but those maps probably
will cover cities only.  Maps of the time showing canal routes can also
help, but will often be of a scale too small to get actual detail about
what is there, now.  In other words, old maps where you can find them are
not going to give the complete answer.  The maps I suggest probably will
not, either.  It requires using all the resources you can assemble.  The
topographic maps represent your most complete set of maps at the largest
scale, which is the reason they are important for this.

I wish you good hunting.

Ken
___________________________
Ken Grabach                           <[log in to unmask]>
Maps Librarian                         Phone: 513-529-1726
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio  45056  USA


On Tue, 6 Nov 2001, Johnnie Sutherland wrote:

> --- Begin Forwarded Message ---
> Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 10:22:48 -0600
> From: Lura Joseph <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Reference Question
> Sender: Lura Joseph <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Hi folks,
>
> A patron is looking for maps that would show canals that may have existed
> on the west side of the Mississippi River between New Madrid and Memphis
> before 1812... or any information about such.
>
> Besides the Missouri Historical Society and the Library of Congress
> American Memory project, can you suggest where to look?
>
> Regards,
>
> Lura Joseph
> Geology Librarian
> University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign
> --- End Forwarded Message ---
>


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