"Every city in the Midwest has a half-finished canal in it."
I love canals, so this makes me want to do a tour of the midwest US and its half-finished canals - and a boat tour of the *finished* canals. But I'm in Scotland so... let me do it online.
First up: Indianapolis!
[image from https://mathstodon.xyz/@susankayequinn@wandering.shop/116635972190246192]
(1/n)
In 1836, Indiana's Mammoth Internal Improvement Act authorized eight major canal projects on a $10 million loan.
After the Panic of 1837, the state went broke; by 1841 it could no longer make interest payments, and of the eight projects, none were completed by the state and only two were ever finished - by London creditors who took them over.
The Central Canal was supposed to run roughly 300 miles down the middle of the state. Only about 8 miles around Indianapolis were ever built. That stub still exists: it's the Canal Walk downtown, now a beautiful pedestrian promenade. See the picture!
South of the city you can still find unfinished culverts, locks, and an abandoned aqueduct where work stopped in 1839. Anyone got good pics of those? I like the melancholy charm of such things.
Next: the Clinton-Kalamazoo canal, which was supposed to go all way across Michigan!
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@johncarlosbaez You can do Parmigiano too, if you know how. You can't call it with the name for legal reasons, but nothing prevents you to learn how to make it.
My question is more about why. Gondolas make sense in Venice for historical reasons, but make very little sense anywhere else.
People from different places came up with different ways of doing things and different styles, which is why travelling around is interesting.
@j_bertolotti - yes, I meant that unlike "parmiagiano reggiano", there's no legal reason you can't make your own "gondola". 'Twas a joke.
Gondolas make sense in the US, too, because everyone knows gondolas and loves the idea of riding in one, but not everyone wants to pay for a trip to Venice. In Las Vegas they have their own copy of Venice - check out the pictures:
https://www.venetianlasvegas.com/resort/attractions/gondola-rides.html
And I've seen fake Venetian canals in a shopping mall in Singapore.
If an old Vegas resident visits Venice for some reason, will they say, "This is not a real Vegas gondola ride?"
The idea of Europe has more pull than Europe can accommodate. Huawei build entire European-themed campus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_Ox_Horn_Campus
John Carlos Baez
j_bertolotti
ma𝕏pool
John Maxwell