Now That Time Has Had Its Say
A History of the Indianapolis Central Canal, 1835-2002
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The story of the Central Canal begins in Indianapolis in 1835, only fourteen years after the city was laid out in 1821 and forty-six years before creation of the Indianapolis Water Company. The canal was one of eight projects authorized by the Internal Improvements Bill passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 1836. According to historian Paul Fatout, the bill authorized eight improvement projects, including a Central Canal "from the Wabash River between Ft. Wayne and Logansport, via Muncietown and Indianapolis, then down White River to Evansville." The legislature appropriated $3.5 million for the canal project and authorized state commissioners to borrow $10 million over twenty-five years for all eight projects. The legislature also authorized building 25 miles of the Central Canal "extending from the feeder dam above Indianapolis [Broad Ripple] to the Bluffs [at Port Royal]." The line of the canal as described in the legislation took in "a Dam across the White river, an Aqueduct over Fall creek, 8 Lift Locks, most of which will be built of cut stone, 2 or 3 Bluff sections, and several large Culverts."
Fatout describes this Hoosier scheme of internal improvements as "conceived in madness and nourished by delusion," noting that the yearly interest on a $10 million loan at the stated interest rate of 5 percent would have been $500,000, or ten times Indiana’s revenues from taxation. Fatout also observed that the Improvements Act "provided no means of paying the interest." State engineers completed the route survey for the new canal during the winter of 1835–1836. A little more than three years later, on June 27, 1839, the state diverted water into the operational part of the Central Canal and placed it into service with appropriate political and public ceremony. The operational portion of the canal extended 13 miles (with the addition of a half-mile mill race) from Broad Ripple to Pleasant Run Creek, near what is now the intersection of West Street (Bluff Road) and Southern Avenue. The remaining 7 miles in southern Marion County and 5½ miles in Johnson County from the Marion County line to the Bluffs at Port Royal were not operational after June 1839. The state ran out of money to build aqueducts or culverts over Pleasant Run Creek and four other creeks between Pleasant Run and Port Royal, and without them there was no possibility of furnishing a continuous Canal water supply for that lower portion. From 1839 to 1851 the state of Indiana owned and operated the 13-mile Central Canal from Broad Ripple to Pleasant Run Creek and the half-mile mill race from Market and Missouri Streets west and south to White River between Washington and Maryland Streets. The state’s first use of the canal was to lease its water power to companies located adjacent to the canal and mill race, including a woolen mill, a cotton mill, a linseed oil mill, two gristmills, two sawmills, and two paper mills. The canal’s other early use was for transportation between downtown Indianapolis and Broad Ripple, both for business and for pleasure. By 1850, however, the annual cost of canal operation and maintenance greatly exceeded the income from canal water use, and the state authorized sale of the Central Canal to the highest bidder.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Now That Time Has Had Its Say tells the story of the Indiana Central Canal, from the time when horses and flatboats carried freight and passengers down its length, to today, when museums, office buildings, and condominiums are being built along its banks. The book is the product of more than two years of research by J. Darrell Bakken, retired vice-president of engineering of the Indianapolis Water Company, who worked in previously untapped archives, discovering documents and never-before published photographs which helped yield the history of the twenty-five mile canal.
This technical history begins in 1835, when Indiana caught "canal fever" and began a multi-million dollar project to build a network of canals to transport passengers and freight throughout the state. One section of that project, the Indiana Central Canal, started in northern Marion County in Broad Ripple, continued through the city of Indianapolis, and ended in Johnson County, near the town of Waverly. For more than forty years the canal was a failure both practically and financially. Finally in 1881 the canal became part of the new Indianapolis Water Company, and from then until the current day it has been an important part of the history of the city of Indianapolis.
The latter part of the book documents the impact of community leaders such as General Thomas A. Morris, F. A. W. Davis, Hugh M. K. Landon, Clarence H. Geist, and Thomas W. Moses, and reveals how, from the 1970s onward, the downtown canal became a driving force in the transformation of Indianapolis into one of America’s most livable cities.
About the Author
J. Darrell Bakken is the retired vice-president of engineering for the Indianapolis Water Company. Water has been an integral part of his life since birth – his father John was an independent water well driller in North Dakota’s Red River valley and Darrell spent many summers working alongside him. After obtaining a B.S. in civil engineering from North Dakota State University and an M.S. in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota, he worked as a water engineer for the United States Army in France. Returning to the United States, he worked for the South Dakota Department of Health and then concluded his career as a civil and environmental engineer with twenty-nine years at IWC. From 1965 through 1994 the author was frequently involved with canal engineering, maintenance, and land matters, and he often presented community lectures on the Central Canal. Darrell and his wife Ruth live in Indianapolis, are active in many church and community organizations, and enjoy traveling.